


Eyes Down

by anneofklaine



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, Nerd Blaine, Skank Kurt Hummel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-11 07:50:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3319748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anneofklaine/pseuds/anneofklaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Blaine transfers to a new school, McKinley High, he never expected to meet a group of misfits who want to help him survive public school. He also never expected to fall for a boy with pink hair, lots of piercings, a bad ass attitude, and gorgeous eyes. Skank!Kurt AU<br/>Warnings are posted at the beginning of each chapter if they apply.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No warnings for this chapter.

Blaine walked through the halls of his new school, McKinley High, trying to find his first class. People were bumping up against him left and right and he honestly had no idea where he was going. Blaine had transferred to McKinley, just before his junior year, at the “request” of his parents; he really had no say in the matter. So when his father had told him that public school would “do you some good,” and “help you grow a back bone before going out into the real world,” and “stop you from wasting your time singing and dancing,” Blaine was less than excited. His relationship with his parents had always been strained, ever since he came out, and he tried his best to not upset them, so off to public school he went.

He had been optimistic at first, thinking that it would be a new experience, an adventure, and it might not be as bad as he intentionally thought, but at the moment he was standing in the middle of a deserted and unfamiliar hallway, class having started a few minutes ago. He stared at the piece of paper in his hand, listing his classes, and wondered how he should go about trying to find where he was supposed to be. He wandered down the hallways some more until he found himself in front of his assigned locker, that he had planned to find later when he wasn’t rushing to his class. Since he was late anyway, he figured he could at least unload some of his books.

He struggled with the lock for a few seconds, and when he got it open, stared unloading his books. When he was just about finished, he noticed a figure to his right. He looked over, and at the end of the hallway there was a guy leaning up against the lockers, smoking. He was tall and lean, with pink streaks in his hair and dark clothing that was ripped in a few places. He had quite a bit of jewelry on, from all kinds of different piercings to some necklaces, and quite a few rings. He was wearing heavy boots and—oh, now he was looking at Blaine. They locked eyes, and Blaine was overcome with the beauty of the eyes of the mysterious boy. A small smirk appeared on the other boy’s face, and he gave Blaine a little salute.

“Hey!” Blaine’s head whipped to the other end of the hallway where a teacher was marching angrily down the hallway toward Blaine. He was balding and stocky and his clothes didn’t come close to matching. He turned back to look at the pink haired boy, but he was gone. After a momentarily feeling of disappointment, he turned back to the teacher, convinced that once he explained his situation he would not be in any trouble.

“Why are you out of pocket?!” the teacher practically yelled in Blaine’s face.

“I—I’m sorry Sir I—“

“I don’t want to hear any excuses!” the teacher cut him off. “All students are supposed to be in class right now. No exceptions! Detention!” the teacher started writing on a slip of paper before Blaine could protest.

“Please Sir, I—“

“Ah ah ah, want to make it two?” He was cut off again. Blaine lowered his head, “No Sir.”

“Good,” the teacher tore off the slip and handed it over to Blaine, “Now, get to class.” And with that, the teacher brushed past Blaine down the rest of the hallway, in the direction of where the pink haired boy had been standing only minutes ago.

~*~*~

The rest of the day did not go much better. Blaine received another detention slip when he finally found his first class, since fifteen minutes was “too long to be lost”, according to his teacher. He made it through his first few classes relatively unnoticed, accept for a few taunts for the way he was dressed. He looked for a group to sit with at lunch, but ended up sitting by himself, since none of the other tables looked particularly inviting. He got another detention before the day was up for throwing paper in class, when it was really the group of jocks that seemed to sit behind him in every single class he had. He was framed for the paper throwing. Honestly.

Needless to say, by the end of the day, Blaine was not in the best of moods. His first day of school and he already had three days of detention lined up. Things were never like this at Dalton. He was liked by all the teachers, and pretty much all of the students, and he was a model student. He had certainly never gotten detention before. But, regardless, he headed to the room that was designated for his afterschool confinement.

He walked into a room that was twice the size of a classroom, completely white walls, and tables and chairs that were more or less scattered throughout the room. Blaine was the first one there, besides the teacher that had given him his first detention.

“Well well well, decided to show up huh? Take a seat.” the teacher scowled across the room from where he was sitting. Blaine sat at a table as far away from the teacher as possible, he got the feeling that the teacher wasn’t his biggest fan. Blaine unpacked a few of his books then looked around the room some more.

The one small chalkboard sat behind the desk that baldy sat behind. _Mr. Johnson_ was written on the board in sloppy handwriting; at least now Blaine had a name to address him by. Next to the board was a poster that read, “ _If you are going down a wrong path, choose a new direction and turn your life around”_. Blaine scoffed at how the poster was supposed to be inspirational but seemed to be more degrading. Mr. Johnson heard the scoff and immediately turned his attention to Blaine.

“Something funny, boy?” he said in a harsh tone.

“No sir.” Blaine replied turning back to his things in front of him.

“Well, just start studying. Hopefully your fellow detention buddies will decide to grace us with their presence.”

Blaine sat writing an essay he had been assigned for another five minutes before two more people walked in. One was a tall asian boy, and the other was a smaller asian girl. They were both dressed in almost all black and were carrying satchels that looked completely full. They walked in and dropped their detention slips on Johnson’s desk without a word and went to sit in a far corner of the room by themselves. Once they sat down they didn’t unpack any of their things, just sat there, not doing anything.

A few minutes later two more people came in. One was a large black girl and the other was a boy in a wheelchair with glasses. They both came in laughing and talking loudly. As soon as they came in Mr. Johnson stood up from his desk.

“Hey! You are in detention! No talking!” He yelled at them. Yelling seemed to be his favorite thing to do.

“Sorry Mr. J,” the girl apologized while still giggling. The two walked over to the desk and handed over their slips then sat a few tables away from Blaine, still talking and giggling quietly between themselves.

A few minutes later two more people walked in. There was a girl and… The boy with the pink hair. The girl was wearing sunglasses and was dressed much the same way he was. Lots of metal and ripped clothing, and pink hair. They came in without a word and she handed her slip to the boy as she moved to claim a table along one of the edges of the room. The boy walked over and tossed the slips on the table.

“Put that cigarette out.” Johnson ordered. The boy stood in front of the desk for a few moments, staring at the teacher, before slowly plucking the almost finished cigarette from between his lips and stubbing it onto the detention slips he had just dropped. They glared at each other for a few moments before the boy turned and joined the girl he came in with at the table. Blaine could not stop staring. The pink haired boy glanced up and caught Blaine looking, and before Blaine could look away he was caught up in the beautiful eyes again. He could not look away and he could not decide what color they were. They had been staring at each other for about five seconds when the boy smirked and the doors to the room burst open and Blaine jumped and looked over to who was sauntering in. It was a boy with a mohawk and a cocky grin.

“Mr. Johnson! Long time no see! Did you miss me over the summer?”

“Hello, Puckerman. Sit down and shut up.”

“Yes sir!” he gave a mock salute and sat down and put his feet on a table a few away from the two with pink hair.

Blaine looked back over to the pink haired boy, but he was now leaning back in his chair staring at the ceiling. Blaine turned his attention back to his essay, but every now and then he would glance up at the boy to try and see those eyes again.

About fifteen minutes later, Mr. Johnson stood up from his desk and circled around to the front of it.

“So, it looks like this is everyone. Here we are. Detention. Isn’t it great?” He scrutinized everyone in the room for any form of a response. He walked over to the poster and slammed his hand on the wall next to it.

“Remember, ‘If you are going down a wrong path,’ which, if you are in detention, I would think that is the _wrong_ path, ‘choose a new direction and turn your life around’.” He looked around the room again for some sort of response. When he got none, he started walking toward the door.

“I’m going to the teacher’s lounge to get some coffee. Remember, Ms. Pillsbury is in her office and she can see if you leave before you are supposed to.” And with that, he left the room.

As soon as the door closed Puckerman held up his middle finger in the direction where Johnson had just left, the black girl and the boy in the wheelchair dissolved into a fit of giggles, the two Asians jumped up and started unloading their bags onto the nearest table, which happened to be dozens of spray paint cans, and the pink haired boy and girl pulled out new cigarettes and lit up.

Blaine was momentarily lost in how it all seemed like a well practiced routine before the pink haired boy caught his eye again. The boy smirked again and before Blaine could do so much as wave, a body blocked his view and a pair of hands slammed on the table in front of him.

“Hi,” the black girl was now standing in front of him with a grin on her face. “I’ve never seen you at McKinley before, you much be new. I’m Mercedes.” She stuck her hand out for him to shake. Blaine was shocked at first, but then remembered his manners and returned her hand shake.

“Hi, I'm Blaine Anderson. And yes, I'm new.”

“Well, Blaine Anderson,“ the boy in the wheel chair said as he wheeled over, “I'm Arite Abrams, and there is something you should know.” He stopped next to Mercedes and leaned forward on the desk in front of Blaine.

“Mercedes and I, we run this whole ship,” he motioned to the rest of the room.

“You wish Abrams!” Puckerman shouted from where he was still sitting. Mercedes and Arite laughed some more before turning back to Blaine.

“So, what did Johnson get you for?” Artie asked.

“I wasn’t in class when I was supposed to be. I got lost and couldn’t find my class. I—“ he glanced over at pink hair again, who was now talking with the girl. “I got kind of distracted. Mr. Johnson caught me wandering the halls.”

“Ah,” Mercedes responded, “Well, just wait; it’s not as bad here as you might think.” She winked. “We should probably introduce everyone to you.” She turned and gestured to the room. “Over there is Mike and Tina,” they were busy spray painting bright blue and black designs all over the walls to respond. “they kindof keep to themselves so people don’t mess with them. But, they are wildly creative and they dance and sing like no other.”

Blaine was surprised at the last comment. What did that have to do with anything?

“Over there are the Skanks.” Mercedes said next pointing to the pink haired boy and girl. Blaine was taken aback.

“What did you call them?!” he asked, surprised.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she chuckled, “That is what they call their group. There are five of them, and they hang out behind the bleachers on the football field most of the time. They don’t really talk to anyone… besides us.” She turned toward the table again, and shouted, “Right, Quinn and Kurt?”

They simultaneously held up their middle fingers without looking up from their conversation.

Mercedes laughed again and turned back to Blaine, “They love us. And they both have awesome singing voices. Especially Kurt, he’s amazing.”

_Kurt._

Blaine thought of the name over and over again, not wanting to forget it, but now he wanted nothing more than to hear him sing.

“And then over there, is Noah Puckerman, but we all call him Puck.” She pointed to the boy with the mohawk. “He can sing pretty well too, and he also plays the guitar.” She finished as he began to walk over.

“And I'm the toughest badass in this hell hole, so no one messes with me. Got it?” he practically growled at Blaine. He nodded furiously so as not to upset him.

“Puck, don’t scare the new kid,” Artie said as Mercedes shoved Puck’s shoulder to get him to stop.

“Seiously though, he could use some pointers on getting people not to mess with him.” Puck said looking Blaine up and down.

“Wh—What do you mean?” Blaine asked wearily.

“Seriously?” Puck asked, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I’m honestly surprised you aren’t at the bottom of one of the dumpsters by now, what with the way you are dressed.”

“What’s wrong with the way I'm dressed?” Blaine kind of liked the way he dressed, thank you very much. He likes colors. He looked down at his own outfit: plaid shirt with coordinating sweater vest and a matching bowtie, with grey pants and his nicest shoes, it was the first day of school after all.

Puck scoffed at him again, “Dude, you keep dressing like that and you are sure to have a black eye by the end of the week.” Blaine paled at that. He had wanted to avoid bullying when he came to a new school. That was the whole reason he had transferred to Dalton in the first place, he didn’t need people to be messing with him just for the way he dressed.

“Puck, don’t be mean…” Mercedes said to him.

“What? I'm trying to look out for him if he is going to be here from now on.”

Artie noticed that Blaine was staring intently at the table and was still a few shades paler than normal. He wheeled over in front of him and put his arms on the table in a very businesslike fashion.

“Look, Blaine, it’s very simple.” Blaine looked up at Artie as he talked. “We all have different ways that we survive in this school. Mike and Tina keep to themselves. Mercedes and I are confidant and don’t let anyone push us around. Kurt and Quinn don’t take any crap from anyone. And Puck… well… Puck is Puck.” He finished shrugging his shoulders.

Blaine was still pretty confused, but Artie continued, “We can help you. We know how to survive McKinley, and we can teach you how to. What da ya say?”

Blaine looked wearily at the three standing in front of him and then at everyone else in the room. Mike and Tina had stopped spraying and were waiting for his answer. The Skanks had also stopped their conversation and were waiting for his response. He caught Kurt’s eye again, and made his decision.

“Okay, fine.” He said. Artie and Mercedes smiled, and when Blaine looked up again the spray painting had resumed and so had the conversation, but Kurt had a small smile on his face.

“Okay, first thing,” Mercedes said, bringing Blaine’s attention back to the matter at hand, “tomorrow you have to simplify what you wear. Go with a plain t-shirt, jeans, and simple shoes. Chucks, or Vans, or something.”

“No penny loafers.” Puck interjected scowling at Blaine’s shoes.

“They are not.” Blaine argued, but was then cut off by Artie continuing.

“Next thing, the hair.”

“My hair?” Blaine asked nervously.

“Kurt!” Puck yelled across the room. Kurt stood up as he finished his conversation and stubbed his cigarette. As he began walking over, Blaine’s breath hitched. Kurt was taller than he remembered, and quite attractive too. He stopped in front of Blaine as Puck said, “Kurt, Blaine. Blaine, Kurt.” Motioning between the two. Then he pointed at Blaine’s hair, “Kurt, fix.”

Blaine glanced at Puck, “My hair is fine.” He said through clenched teeth. Puck scoffed.

Kurt ran a finger through Blaine’s hair, which momentarily caused Blaine to freeze, and when he pulled it back in front of Blaine’s face, it had a glop of gel on it.

“Oh, well yeah…” Blaine said nervously, “It is too crazy when I don’t fix it…”

Kurt continued staring at him for a few moments before he wiped the gel off onto Blaine’s nose. Mercedes and Artie giggled as Kurt strode back over to the table he had previously been sitting at. He grabbed his bag, and as he started walking back over Puck turned to Blaine, “do you have any gel with you?”

“Umm, well yeah…”

“Take it with you.”

“What? Wher—“ before Blaine could finish Kurt had grabbed his hand and was pulling him up from his chair and toward the door. Blaine grabbed his bag, which he kept his back-up gel in.

As they left the classroom Kurt looked up and down the hallway for any teachers to make sure they wouldn’t get caught for leaving detention. Blaine was too caught up in the fact that Kurt was still holding his hand to notice much else. Kurt pulled him along as they dashed to the nearest bathroom a few doors down from the detention room.

Once they were inside Kurt let go of his hand, which disappointed Blaine, and went over to the sink and turned the hot water on. He stared riffling through his bag and pulling out a few things, a comb, a mini bottle of hairspray, a small hand towel, scissors… wait, scissors? That caught Blaine’s attention, and he decided to break the silence.

“Umm, Hi.” He said nervously. Kurt stopped what he was doing and looked up at Blaine through the mirror. Blaine took a few more steps forward, “Umm… I’m Blaine.”

Kurt laughed a little bit, “Yeah, I figured that much out.” He said as he continued riffling through his bag.

“Oh, okay. Umm…”

“Did you bring your gel?” Kurt turned to face him, abandoning his bag.

“Oh! Yes, I—“ he dug through his bag and pulled out the small back up bottle. “Here it is.” He turned and looked triumphant. Kurt laughed a little again and motioned Blaine over toward the sink.

“Come over here, I’m going to wash all of that crap out of your hair.”

Blaine stopped at this. He was quite embarrassed about how crazy his hair could be; that’s why he gelled it in the first place.

Noticing Blaine’s hesitation Kurt commented, “What? I'm not going to eat you.”

“What? No,” Blaine responded, “I just… I don’t like my hair. It’s too crazy…”

Kurt softened a little at Blaine’s honesty. “I'm going to help. I can show you how to manage it without plastering it down every day.” Kurt had slowly walked over to Blaine and he took his hand. Blaine’s breath hitched again at the contact. Kurt walked him toward the sink. He took the bottle of gel from him and instructed Blaine to bend over. Blaine still looked hesitant.

“Trust me.” Kurt assured him as they looked into each other’s eyes. Blaine could only nod as he bent over toward the sink.

Kurt directed him under the water and tenderly ran his fingers through his hair as he washed it. Kurt was very gentle and he made Blaine feel much better, through he was still a little self conscious.

Once he was finished washing it, Kurt ran the towel through Blaine’s hair, but still kept it mostly wet.

“Sit down.” Kurt commanded softly. Blaine sat on the bathroom floor, which would normally gross him out, but he was so relaxed that he didn’t even care. Kurt picked up the scissors and kneeled next to him.

“Whoa,” Blaine said cautiously, he really didn’t want to lose all of his hair.

“Relax,” Kurt said rolling his eyes. “I'm just giving you a trim. I won’t go all Sweeney Todd on you, I swear.” Blaine chucked at this, nodded and closed his eyes.

Kurt ran his fingers through Blaine’s hair some more before Blaine heard the quiet snipping of the scissors. Blaine opened his eyes at one point when Kurt was working in front of him. He was so close he could really _look_ at his face. Not to be creepy or anything…

Blaine could now see that he had four piercings in each of his ears, at varied positions. He also had a nose ring, and he could see the pink streaks in his hair clearly. Blaine could also tell that he was wearing a little bit of eye liner that really accented his eyes. Oh, his eyes. Blaine was sure that he could stare into them for the rest of his life and never get bored.

After about five minutes of trimming, Kurt put the scissors down and picked up the bottle of gel. He held his hand out in front of Blaine. Blaine looked at it for a few moments before he placed his hand in Kurt’s. Kurt laughed and flipped Blaine’s hand over so that his palm was facing up. He squeezed about a quarter size dollop if gel into it.

“This is as much as you need per day. Got it?” he said semi-sternly. Blaine nodded obediently. Kurt nodded once, then ran his fingers over Blaine’s palm collecting the gel before working it into Blaine’s hair.

It took about two minutes before Kurt stood up and pulled Blaine to his feet.

“Don’t look in the mirror yet.” Kurt commanded, leading him out of the way of mirror. “First, take off the vest.”

“Wh—what?” Blaine wasn’t sure what was going on.

“I'm giving you a mini makeover before we go back in there. I did your hair, now for the clothes.”

“Oh… okay well…” Blaine stuttered. Kurt rolled his eyes again.

“Just do it. I know what I'm doing. And take off the bow tie while you’re at it.”

“Okay, okay. Fine.” Blaine took off his bowtie and vest and laid them over one of the dry sinks.

“Do you have an undershirt on?”

“Yeah?”

“Okay, unbutton your shirt and roll up your sleeves.”

When Blaine hesitated again, Kurt gave him a pointed look, and Blaine did as he was told.

Kurt looked him over a few times before he said, “unroll the bottom of your damn pants, and I’ll be right back.”

Kurt left the bathroom and Blaine was left standing in the middle of the bathroom doing nothing. He considered going over to the mirror, but thought better of it. He didn’t want Kurt to be mad at him.

Kurt returned a few minutes later carrying a beaten up pair of chucks. “Put these on,” Kurt said as he threw the shoes at Blaine’s feet.

Once Blaine tied the shoes and stood up, Kurt circled around him a few times. He stopped in front of him and fell to his knees. Blaine’s eyes grew wide.

“Relax,” Kurt said as he pulled a pocket knife out of his back pocket.

“Okay, like that is supposed to make me rela—Hey!” As Blaine was talking Kurt had cut a slit in Blaine’s pants just above his knee. “What the hell did you do that for?!” Blaine practically yelled.

“Geez, you really need to chill. It’s not like you can’t buy another pair if you really need to.”

That shut Blaine up. Kurt frayed and tore his pants a little more before he stood back up and put the knife back in his pocket. He grabbed Blaine’s hand and pulled him back over in front of the mirror.

Blaine was shocked by what he saw.

He looked much less put together than he had before, but he looked relaxed, comfortable… more of himself.

“See? Isn’t that much better?” Kurt said with a small smirk on his face. Blaine nodded slightly, blushing a little.

“Good. Now, let’s show you to the rest of the group.” And with that, Kurt picked up his bag and Blaine shoved his vest, bowtie and shoes into his own bag as they left the bathroom.

When they got back to the room Blaine was meet with the applause of Puck, Mercedes, and Arite at his transformed look.

“Much better!” Arite commended.

“Nice work, Hummel.” Puck shouted at Kurt as he was walking back over to his previously abandoned table. Kurt shrugged his shoulders, sat next to Quinn, and lit another cigarette.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Blaine arrives at school the next day wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and some black converse, just like Mercedes and Puck had told him to. He really wanted to survive school and not have to worry about people picking on him because of his love for bowties. So, he figured he could save his bowties for events _outside_ of William McKinley High School.

As he was walking to the school from the parking lot, a girl stopped in front of him. She was about his height, with long black hair that looked like it could use a comb. She was wearing ripped up jeans and heavy boots, with a shirt that showed her stomach, and a ripped up sleeveless denim vest.

“Hey cutie,” she said, running a finger down the front of his chest. “Wanna go make out before class behind the bleachers?” Blaine was shocked for a moment. Yesterday no one even bothered to give him a second glance (besides the jocks who picked on him and the teachers who gave him detention), and now there is a girl hitting on him.

“Umm, no thanks.” He said, trying to side step her. She blocked his path again.

“Aww, come on. It will be fun. I’ve had lots of practice, so I'm really good at it,” she said in a voice Blaine guessed was meant to be her “seductive voice”. Just before he could turn her down again, Mercedes appeared at his side and answered for him.

“Back off Mack. He’s not interested.” Mercedes answered in a voice that was more authoritative than Blaine’s had been. ‘Mack’ shrugged her shoulders and walked off to find someone else to approach.

“Thanks,” Blaine turned to Mercedes once the other girl had left.

“Don’t worry about it, she’s plenty harmless enough. She is part of the Skanks, with Quinn and Kurt.”

Hearing Kurt’s name peaked his interest again. “Really? How did they all… I don’t know, Become a group?” Blaine figured, the more he knew about Kurt, the better.

“They all have their own reasons. Quinn pretty much started the group. She used to be blonde and all prim and proper, but she showed up at the beginning of last year looking… like she does now. She had completely changed over the summer. No one really knows why… well, except for Kurt. They talk all the time, so I have no doubt that he knows why.”

She paused for a moment as they walked through the front doors together. Artie came up to them and did some weird hand shake thing with Mercedes before he turned to Blaine.

“Damn Blaine. Nice job. You did good, following our advice. People shouldn’t pick on you now.”

Blaine still didn’t understand why his clothes determined whether or not people picked on him, but Mercedes and Artie had been here longer than he had, so their advice was as good as any.

“I’ll see you in class Artie,” Mercedes said to Artie, “I’m going to help Blaine find his first class since he couldn’t seem to do so yesterday.”

Artie shrugged his shoulders and waved as he wheeled away. “Later,” he said while leaving.

After a few moments Blaine and Mercedes were in front of Blaine’s locker, and they stopped so he could get some books. He wanted to know more about Kurt, and he figured Mercedes was the best place to start asking. He wanted to be subtle about it though, he didn’t want to seem like a creeper… or at least too much of a creeper.

“So, what about Kurt?” he asked, trying to sound nonchalant. “How did he get involved with the whole thing?” Blaine kept riffling through his locker waiting for an answer, and after a moment of none being provided, he glanced over to Mercedes. She had a smirk on her face that said, _You are trying to be subtle but I can see right through your motives._

“What?” Blaine asked, trying to play it off. “Do I have something on my face?” he said touching his cheek. Mercedes chuckled as she swatted his hand away.

“Blaine, if you want to know about Kurt, you are going to have to ask him yourself.”

Blaine visibly deflated at this. He would be the first to admit that he was a more than a little intimidated to talk to him. He just seemed so… (amazing, mysterious, gorgeous, out-of-his-league, divine)… cool.

Blaine decided to give it another go at getting information out of Mercedes. “What, do you not know anything about him? Is he a really private person or something?” Blaine asked as he closed his locker and they started walking down the hallway toward his class.

“No, no, no,” Mercedes replied. “He and I used to be the best of friends. I know _tons_ of stuff about him.” Blaine was convinced she was trying to torture him now. “We still hang out, but I don’t know every little detail about his days anymore since he spends more time on his own, but I still know enough. And I know Kurt well enough to know that if you want to get on his good side, you need to talk to him. Don’t listen to gossip to get your information.”

“But I'm not looking for gossip! I just want to know—“ He was cut off when Mercedes stepped in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders to make him stop walking.

“Just talk to him okay?” she smiled and brushed some imaginary lint off of his shoulders. “He’s not going to bite you. At least not yet.” She said with a wink as she turned and abandoned him in the middle of the hallway.

After getting over the shock of what she had just said, Blaine looked around the hallway and found himself in front of his first class.

~*~*~

The rest of the day passed smoothly enough. Blaine was not harassed more than once (he accidentally bumped into a jock and consequently had his books knocked out of his hands), and he sat with Mercedes and Artie at lunch instead of by himself.

Soon enough, it was time for detention again, but since he knew what to expect this time, he was not dreading it at all, like he was the first time. In fact, he was, dare he say it, excited. Blaine really liked Mercedes and Artie and he could see them becoming good friends. He was also excited to see Kurt, whom he had not spotted all day long. He was a little nervous that he wasn’t at school that day, but his worries were put to rest when he walked into the detention room and the pink-haired boy was already there. He was sitting at a corner table with his feet up on the table and dark shades on. He was also by himself. No Quinn.

Blaine thought that would have been the perfect moment for him to sit at the table with him and maybe start a conversation, but he was intimidated again, and found another table halfway across the room from him.

After everyone had arrived for detention (minus Quinn), Mr. Johnson stood up from his desk and slapped his hand on the wall, repeating the same speech he gave yesterday, almost word for word.

_“Remember, ‘If you are going down a wrong path, choose a new direction and turn your life around’. I’m going to the teacher’s lounge to get some coffee. Don’t forget, Ms. Pillsbury is in her office and she can see if you leave before you are supposed to.”_

After he had left, and Mike and Tina had been spraying the room for a few minutes, and Mercedes and Artie seemed invested in their own conversation, Blaine glanced over at Kurt. He had still not moved an inch from the position he had been in when Blaine had come into the room. He decided, “ _there’s no time like the present_ ” and was just about to get up to go talk to him when suddenly Puck appeared in front of him.

“So, Blaine, can you sing?” Puck asked leaning in front of him and obscuring his (very nice) view. Mercedes and Artie seemed to snap out of their conversation and immediately came over to the table to hear Blaine’s answer.

“Umm, yes? I mean… I was in the glee club at my old school. It was really fun, and… yeah.” Blaine was somewhat depressed when he was reminded of his friends that he had to suddenly leave behind.

“Well you see, we have something kind of like that here,” Artie said crossing his arms over his chest and looking somewhat proud.

“What? You have a glee club?!” Blaine perked up at this. He loved to sing and perform, and wanted to be a part of it whenever he could.

“Well, not exactly,” Mercedes interjected into the conversation. “McKinley doesn’t have much of an arts program here,”

“So we all come here,” Artie motioned to the rest of the room, “so we can sing whenever we want to.”

 _That explains why Mercedes talked about their singing talent when she was introducing everyone yesterday_ , Blaine thought.

“Exactly,” Puck continued, “It is a good stress reliever after a day in this place.”

“You wanna see?” Mercedes asked eagerly. They were all looking at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

“Uh… sure,” he responded.

They all dispersed and began moving the tables around and out of the way. They were clearing one side of the room completely of tables. Mike and Tina came over and started moving his table, so he stood up to get out of the way. As the rest of the group continued to move the tables and chairs around, Blaine noticed that Kurt was still sitting at the same table, and made no move to get up with the rest of the others.

Blaine gathered his things and began to make his way over. It was not until he sat down next to him that Kurt acknowledged his presence with a quirked eyebrow.

“Umm… hi,” Blaine said nervously. He still had yet to get over being intimidated by Kurt.

Kurt laughed a little, “Hello, again.” He replied, and then turned his attention to the front of the room where Puck was fiddling with a CD player.

“What are they doing?” Blaine asked Kurt. He had forgotten how much he liked the sound of Kurt’s voice, and he wanted to keep talking to him.

“They are going to show off, for you.”

Blaine was still confused. “Me?”

Just then music blared from the CD player in a smooth beat, and Mercedes started to sing.

_It makes it easier, easier to bear, yeah._

_You won’t regret it, no no_

_No, girls they don’t forget it._

Tina stepped forward and started to sing with Mercedes

_Love is their home, happiness, yeah._

_Squee, squee, squee, Squeeze her_

_Don’t tease her, never leave her._

Mike jumped over to Tina and pulled her to him as they started doing a very impressive dance. Puck and Artie stepped forward as well to continue the song. Puck turned to Artie,

_Sounds so soulful, don’t you agree?_

Artie responed with

_Oww! Uhh_

_I invented swag_

_Poppin bottles, putting supermodels in the cab_

Puck jumped in and continued

_I guess I got my swagger back, truth_

_New watch alert, Hublot’s_

_Or the big face Roley, I got two of those_

_Arm out the window through the city, I maneuver slow_

_Cock back, snap back, see my cut through the holes; go_

As the song continued, Mike and Tina danced around the space and Mercedes, Puck and Artie continued the song.

Blaine had to admit, he was impressed. The five people seemed to emit so much energy that it was hard to sit still watching them. Blaine stayed in his seat, but chanced a look over at Kurt. He was watching the group as well, with a small smile on his face, as though he was proud of them.

As the song came to a close everyone seemed to be on a high from the song and they came over to the table Blaine and Kurt were sitting at.

“Well, what did you think?” Mercedes asked propping her elbows on the table in front of Blaine with a big smile on her face.

“You were all really good,” Blaine complemented with a smile. Puck cut in, “Hell yeah we are!”

Everyone laughed at this, even Kurt laughed a little.

“What about you Kurt?” Blaine asked suddenly. Kurt looked at him, again with a quirked eyebrow. Blaine blushed under the attention, but continued on anyway. “Why didn’t you sing?”

Kurt didn’t answer, but instead stared at Blaine, and everyone else stayed silent.

Finally Mercedes jumped in, “Come on Kurt, we haven’t heard you sing since school got out last year. Sing something!” Everyone else jumped in as will urging him to sing. “Come on, Hummel,” Puck interjected, “give it a go and show off for the newbie.” Puck nudged Blaine as he said this.

Finally, Kurt sighed and got up from the table and took off his sunglasses and perched them on top of his head. He turned to Puck as he made his way to the front of the room, “Get your guitar.”

Puck jumped up on top of one of the nearby tables and began moving away one of the ceiling tiles.

At this point, Blaine was not surprised when Puck pulled a guitar down from the ceiling.

Once Kurt was standing at the front of the room and Puck was perched on a nearby chair, Puck began to strum a few chords before launching into the song.

Kurt’s voice came out clear and soothing and it was the most beautiful thing that Blaine had ever heard.

_Older brother, restless soul, lie down._

_Lie for a while with your ear against the earth,_

_And you’ll hear your sister sleep talking_

_Say “Your hair is long but not long enough to reach,_

_Home to me._

Blaine was instantly transfixed by Kurt. He put so much emotion into his singing that Blaine could see every emotion that was playing out on his face. For a moment, the hard exterior walls were broken down, and Blaine could see who the _real_ Kurt was. And although he still looked strong, he looked vulnerable and alone.

_Older father, weary soul, you’ll drive_

_Back to the home you made on the mountainside._

_With that ugly, terrible thing,_

_Those papers for divorce, and a lonely ring._

_A lonely ring._

It was at times like this, when Blaine could see the distress clearly on his face that he realized that he would do anything in his power to make sure that Kurt never had to feel that type of misery ever again.

_Grandfather, gentle soul, you’ll fly_

_Over your life once more before you die._

_Since our grandma passed away_

_You’ve waited for forever and a day,_

_Just to die._

_And someday soon,_

_You will die._

At that very moment, even though he was in a room of people that all claimed to be friends with him, Kurt looked like the loneliest person in the world. Blaine wanted nothing more than to be there and make sure that Kurt was never lonely again.

_And the cancer spread and it ran into her body and her blood,_

_And there’s nothing you can do about it now._

Even though Blaine had only met him a day ago, and he might have only had bits and pieces of a conversation with him; Blaine was sure that he was in love with Kurt Hummel.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used are Otis by Jay-Z & KanYe West, and Blood by The Middle East.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt was slipping, and he knew it.

The day Blaine Anderson had shown up in the halls of McKinley High, Kurt felt himself slip.

Kurt had spent all of junior year building up his persona so that all of the taunting would stop. All throughout his sophomore year Kurt had had to deal with bullies. They had done the usual dumpster tosses, locker checks, and slushies, but that was all tolerable. The dumpster tosses and slushies both came at the beginning of the day, so he had developed a habit of wearing clothes to school that he didn’t mind getting ruined, and then he would change right after it was all done with. The locker checks were never anything serious, just enough to make him stumble a little bit, but then he could carry on his way. He managed to survive sophomore year with minimal damage.

But at the start of his junior year, things took a turn for the worse. The dumpster tosses and slushies came at irregular times throughout the day, and the locker checks became more violent, to the point of bruising. What made it even worse, was that all of the bullying had escalated due one person. Dave Karofsky. It was like he had made it his personal goal to make Kurt’s life a living hell.

It had worked.

He was only through the first half of the first semester, but Kurt was living in terror every day of his life.

One day Kurt was at his locker when he saw a group of jocks walking down the hallway. At the same time he saw the group of girls that called themselves “the Skanks” walking in the opposite direction. The two groups passed each other with no interaction. No locker checks. No taunts or sneers. It had been like they were invisible to the jocks.

That afternoon Kurt had approached Quinn, the leader of the group, and asked to join. As soon as he joined the bullying had dropped dramatically, and soon he was left completely alone. He never looked back.

So when Blaine Anderson waltzed into the detention room with his honey eyes and adorable bow tie, Kurt felt himself slipping back into his old self. The same self that was thrown into lockers and who spent a large majority of his time washing out red dye no.4 out of his eyes.

After Kurt had given Blaine his ‘makeover’, with gentle touches and careful words, Kurt swore he would avoid the boy as much as possible. Blaine Anderson was dangerous if with one look Kurt wanted nothing more than to protect him from the cruel world of McKinley High, no matter what the costs. Sure, Kurt wanted to help him so that he would not have to go through what he did, but he still had his own persona to keep up if he wanted his back to remain bruise-free.

Kurt felt himself slipping again when Blaine had practically given him puppy dog eyes and asked him to sing. Kurt couldn’t understand what it was about this boy that made him get up in front of everybody and pour his soul out for everyone to see. And it was only the second day of school.

And so, even though Blaine had been staring directly at him the whole time he sang, with a look that practically made Kurt weak-in-the-knees, he swore, that he wouldn’t let Blaine Anderson get to him anymore.

~*~*~

The third day that Blaine Anderson had detention would be the day that changed the rest of his high-school life. As soon as Johnson had left the room Puck was there, standing in front of him, obstructing his (once again, _very good_ ) view, and asking him a simple question: “So, you want in?”

It was explained to Blaine that they wanted him to join their group and come to this detention so that he could sing with them. But, he had to audition first ( _“we don’t want you to be in our group if you totally suck, dude.” Puck had explained ever so nicely_ ).

So that’s how Blaine found himself standing in the cleared space of the detention room, with Puck’s guitar in his lap, with seven pairs of eyes on him, waiting for him to sing.

Blaine decided that he would stick to a song he knew and could sing well. He started playing the opening chords, a little faster than normal.

_Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat?_

_Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?_

He sang it simply for the purpose of it being a fun song. He knew these people were going to be his friends here, and he didn’t want them to see him as some humorless stiff. He also did want to be a part of this world, as cheesy as it sounds. He had never felt more at ease than when he was singing, and if this was the place he could do it, then he wanted to be here. He also wanted to be with Kurt. Not just in terms of possibly being in a relationship with him, but he wanted to just be around him. He wanted to get to know him.

_Wish I could be part of your world…_

Blaine ended the last note of his song while not so subtlety looking at Kurt, before everyone burst into applause. Even Kurt was clapping for him with a small smile. That, in itself, made Blaine’s heart swell.

“Great job, Blaine!” Mercedes congratulated him, “I think it is safe to say that we would all love for you to be here!”

Blaine smiled and accepted the praise from the others, while still glancing at Kurt every now and then. He had resumed his conversation with Quinn (who had shown up that day).

“Alright, Anderson,” Puck announced regaining his attention. “There are a few things we have to go over if you are going to be here from now on.”

Mercedes guided Blaine over to another chair closer to where Kurt and Quinn were sitting. Upon hearing Puck’s exclamation everyone else in the room gathered around the table Blaine was now sitting at.

“Rule number one,” Puck started, holding his pointer finger up dramatically in front of Blaine’s face.

“Wait, there are rules?” Blaine interrupted.

“Yes. Now shut up.” Puck responded without missing a beat. “Rule number one: we don’t want some teacher coming in here and messing everything up. We like what we get to do because Johnson doesn’t give a shit about us, and we would like to keep it that way. So, don’t go blabbing about this to anyone. Understood?”

Blaine nodded.

“Number two:” Puck continued, “This is a legit group that we have here, not just a come and go thing. So, you have to show up to detention. Every day.”

Blaine’s eyes widened, and he almost protested, but then he figured, it was worth it. It wasn’t really detention anyway.

“Number three: In order for you to be an official member, you have to be initiated.” Everyone around the table seemed to get a wicked grin on their face when Puck mentioned this.

Blaine was momentarily afraid for his life.

“What kind of initiation?” Blaine asked nervously.

“Simple,” Mercedes said as she stepped forward toward Blaine. She knelt down in front of him. “See this?” She pointed to a small black stud that was pierced through her nose. “That’s the sign that you are in this group,” she said as she stood back up. As Blaine looked around he began to notice that everyone there also had a piercing somewhere that had a black stud in it.

“Nobody else in the entire school wears black studs?” Blaine asked a little skeptically. To be honest, he didn’t like the sound of this initiation very much.

“Don’t be sassy, Anderson,” Puck cut in. “Yeah sometimes people wear them, and when they do, they rarely wear just one. Also, there are only seven of us here. We know who is and isn’t in the group. This is just part of initiation, so shut up and pick a place.”

“What?”

“Where is the stud going to go?” Puck asked again. Kurt walked away from the table momentarily.

“Uhh..” Blaine was getting nervous now. He looked to Mercedes for guidance. She had taken a seat relatively close to him.

“The ear lobes don’t really hurt that much,” she said touching the long dangly earring she was wearing at the moment.

“Ye--yeah but,” Blaine stammered. Kurt had reappeared, walking toward the table carrying a small bag. “Which ear would I put it in?” Blaine asked Mercedes.

Kurt walked over and sat on the table right in front of Blaine, practically leaning over him.

“Well, that’s for you to decide,” He said as he opened the bag and pulled out a small box. He popped the lid and there were a few small sewing needles in there.

“Wait! We are doing it right now!?” Blaine panicked.

“Well yeah,” Puck stated, “your initiation is now.”

Kurt put down the small box of needles and picked a sharpie out of his bag. He grabbed Blaine’s hand pulling him from his seat and toward the door. “Let’s go Curly Top.”

~*~*~

Kurt pulled Blaine into the bathroom once again, pulling him toward the mirror and uncapping the sharpie.

“Alright, where do you want it?” Kurt asked. Blaine was still freaking out a little bit.

“Where do I— I don’t even want it! Why do I even have to do this? If I had know that I would have to go through with this I—“

“Hey. Hey,” Blaine’s ranting had been cut off when Kurt had closed the space between them and put his hands soothingly on the side of Blaine’s face. “Just calm down,” Kurt chuckled a little, trying to console Blaine. Blaine’s breath had caught in his throat upon the contact. “It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just something they like to do. It won’t hurt that much, I promise.”

Kurt was almost petting Blaine lovingly, trying to calm his nerves. Blaine was staring at him with wide eyes, full of what looked like wonder. Once Kurt realized what he was doing, he quickly withdrew his hands and took a few steps away from Blaine.

“So, um,” He said looking at the ground. Why the hell was Blaine turning him into this blushing mess? “Where do you want it?”

Blaine shrugged his shoulders, also looking at the ground. Kurt sighed when he saw Blaine. He just looked so small and adorable, Kurt couldn’t help but relent. He walked over to Blaine again and squared his shoulders toward the mirror.

“How about here?” Kurt said pointing to Blaine’s left earlobe. “That’s where I got my first one, and that’s where most get their first single.”

Blaine was still hesitant about the whole thing, but he figured he didn’t have much of an option in the matter.

He sighed, “Fine…”

Kurt uncapped the sharpie again and drew a small dot on Blaine’s ear. The close proximity to Kurt had once again stolen the breath out of Blaine’s lungs. He was so close. His lips were within reach. All he had to do was turn his head and—

But then Kurt stepped away, revealing Blaine’s reflection in the mirror.

“How’s that?” he asked.

Blaine examined the small dot on his ear. “That’ll work, I guess.”

Kurt nodded his head in agreement, and pocketed the sharpie before heading for the door.

“Let’s get it over with then.”

Blaine pretended not to be too disappointed when Kurt didn’t take his hand like he had earlier.

~*~*~

They were once again sitting in the detention room. Blaine was sitting in a chair and Kurt was on the table in front of him, holding an ice pack (from Mercedes’ lunch) to Blaine’s ear. There was a slice of an apple (from Artie’s lunch) sitting on the table next to a sterilized needle (courtesy of Quinn’s lighter).

Everyone was gathered around the table to watch the initiation take place.

Blaine’s ear was completely numb from the ice when Mercedes spoke.

“So Blaine,” she started, “you said you used to be in glee club at your old school? What was it like?”

Blaine turned his eyes to her, and gave her an appreciative smile. “It was great. We were all great friends and we would try to put on performances whenever we could. We tended to do impromptu performances in the lunch hall because then everyone in the room would join in with us. The only real gigs we had, besides competitions, were singing at nursing homes. But none of us cared. We all loved performing so much that we didn’t care where we did it.”

Blaine knew he was rambling by this point, but he had just missed everyone from Dalton so much that once he started talking, he couldn’t stop.

He had just finished talking about the council and the odd but endearing habits of some of the members when he realized that Kurt was leaning back on one of his hands, listening intently to Blaine’s stories, which had been going on for about ten minutes.

Blaine immediately stopped talking when he noticed the small smirk on Kurt’s face. He reached up to his ear and felt the small piercing there.

“Welcome to the club, Blaine!” Puck shouted, and everyone broke out into cheers and applause.

Blaine, once again, felt himself blushing under the attention and he felt a warmth spread through his chest when he saw Kurt clapping as well and smiling.

He now had detention for the rest of the year.


	4. Chapter 4

Kurt angrily slammed his fist into the row of lockers nearest to him. Detention had gotten out just a few minutes ago and he had quickly left the room so that he could get a hold of himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He had worked so hard to build up his tough exterior and protect himself from his tormentors. He had promised himself that he would stay away from Blaine or to be indifferent about him. If Kurt cared too much then it would come back to bite him. Why was it that as soon as he looked at Blaine he reverted back to his love-sick-silly-romantic self? He had practically caressed Blaine’s face in the bathroom trying to calm him. Why the fuck did he care so much?

Kurt angrily kicked the lockers to try and get some of his frustration out. He was so busy pacing back and forth around the hallway mumbling to himself, berating himself for his actions and telling himself to get it together, that he didn’t notice someone else approach him in the hallway.

“Umm, Kurt?”

~*~*~

Blaine had followed Kurt out after detention. He was going to take Mercedes’ advice and try to get to know him. He figured he could ask Kurt if he wanted to get coffee. It’s a casual enough activity that he could pass it off as just a friendly get together, even if he hoped that more would develop from it. Truth be told, he truly _did_ want to get to know Kurt, never before had he been so entranced by someone before. Not to mention, the strange way Kurt’s personality seemed to change quite quickly. Blaine had noticed how Kurt acted differently around him, when nobody was around, and he was curious as to why.

He had followed Kurt out of the detention room after everyone had left, only to find him kicking the lockers, pacing anxiously and mumbling to himself. He began to worry if something was wrong.

“Umm, Kurt?”

Kurt immediately stopped pacing and turned to face him with a dear-caught-in-the-headlights look. His facade changed just as quickly, too. He was holding himself differently and holding his head up in a way that made him seem like he was completely confidant in everything that he was doing. It threw Blaine off a little bit how quickly Kurt changed, but he decided to ignore that for the time being.

“Is—Is everything okay?” he timidly asked.

“Yes, fine. What do you want?” Kurt replied quickly with a bit of ice to his voice. It too, surprised Blaine.

“Oh, well, I just…” Kurt was still standing in his confident pose, and Blaine was still intimidated by him. “I just wanted to thank you. You know, I was really nervous about this,” he said motioning to his ear, “and you just helped me go through with it.”

By the time he stopped talking he was looking down at the ground, he sounded pathetic. Since he was busy staring at his shoes, he missed the way Kurt’s haughty expression melted into one of soft sympathy. But, before Blaine could look up and see it, Kurt caught himself and resumed his overconfident expression.

“It was no big deal. Don’t mention it,” Kurt replied, and with that, he brushed past Blaine toward the exit of the school. Blaine remained in the hallway looking at the ground, feeling so small, and he didn’t even know why. He snapped out of his mood long enough to run in the direction Kurt headed to try and do what he had originally intended to do. He exited the school just in time to see Kurt speed out of the school parking lot on a shiny black motorcycle.

~*~*~

Blaine could not find another opportunity to ask Kurt to coffee for the rest of the week after that. Sometimes Mercedes and Artie were in the middle of talking to him whenever he would see Kurt, but he did not want to interrupt Mercedes and Artie to go over to him and ask. Sometimes Kurt was with Quinn or Puck, talking, and Blaine did not want to be rude to them either by interrupting. Mostly though, Blaine found it quite impossible to find Kurt during the day. If he didn’t have detention with the other male every afternoon, then he was sure that he would never see him otherwise.

The first week of school Blaine used to catch glimpses of him during the day, going to one class or another, but Blaine never saw him during the day anymore. Kurt was acting differently too. During the few times that Blaine did see Kurt and he caught his eye, if Blaine waved or tried to greet him, Kurt all but brushed him off or ignored him. Had Blaine done something, or was the Kurt he had previously met an act? Was Blaine not able to see Kurt during the day because Kurt was avoiding him?

Blaine was confused about anything that had to do with Kurt, and that increased his desire to get to know him more and ask him about it.

He got his chance the following week, the first Monday after the incident in the hallway.

It was toward the end of the detention period that afternoon when everyone was stilling on the tables in a somewhat circle, and Puck was strumming his guitar to a song while everyone sang together. They had been having these kinds of jam sessions all afternoon, just singing random songs and relaxing.

_Today I don't feel like doing anything_

_I just wanna lay in my bed_

_Don't feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone_

_'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything_

_Nothing at all, nothing at all_

They were all singing the song together while Mike was strutting around the room adding motions and acting out some of the phrases from the song; even the Skanks had joined in on the singing early on in the afternoon.

Everyone was laughing and having a lot of fun together.

As the song ended, detention time was almost up, so everyone began to gather their things to go home. All except Kurt and Blaine.

Blaine had caught Kurt’s eye just before the song had ended, and they hadn’t broken eye contact since then. Blaine offered up a tentative smile, and he felt his heart leap in his chest when, after a few moments, Kurt returned the smile.

The moment only lasted for a few seconds before Mercedes approached Blaine to say goodbye for the day. The next time Blaine looked over to Kurt, he was gone, having left for the day.

Blaine was alone in the room now, still sitting in his same place on top of the table. It had been the first time Kurt had acknowledged him in a while, and he felt himself smile at the memory. It still puzzled Blaine why Kurt had been more distant lately, but he figured he was just busy… hopefully.

Blaine looked over to where Kurt had been sitting and noticed something lying on the table. Blaine hopped off the table and went over to the small object.

Kurt’s lighter.

It must have fallen out of Kurt’s pocket when he left. Blaine turned it over in his hands. It was a small pink one that matched Kurt’s hair. Blaine knew that Kurt would be gone by now, so he would just have to hang onto it until tomorrow and return it to him then.

Suddenly the door opened and in walked Kurt Hummel himself. He froze when he saw Blaine standing there, equally frozen in his spot.

“I, umm—“

“You forgot—“

They both spoke at the same time, and both stopped at the same time.

Blaine made a motion with his hand to indicate for Kurt to go first.

“Oh, I just, umm..” he pointed to the lighter in Blaine’s hand.

“Oh! Right,” Blaine walked toward Kurt, “Here you go,” he handed the small object back to him. They both ignored the way their breaths hitched when their hands brushed.

“Thanks,” they caught each other’s eyes again. “Well, I’ll see ya around,” Kurt said with a smile as he took a few steps backwards before he left the room.

“Yeah… see ya,” Blaine said after the door had closed.

~*~*~

Kurt was walking down the hallway toward the exit of the school, hands slightly shaking. The short encounter that Kurt had with Blaine was enough to turn him back into the blushing romantic that he had been trying so hard to avoid. He had been doing really well this past week, he had been able to avoid Blaine during the day and he managed to avoid contact with him during detention times.

But the single one-on-one encounter with Blaine had put him back in his current state: tingling hands where they had brushed against Blaine’s and a doubting mind that was questioning anything that told him to stay away.

He just needed to get home. If he gave himself a night to compose himself he would be able to regain his ability to keep up his cool façade and to stay away from Blaine.

“Kurt, wait!”

Speak of the devil. Kurt turned around to see Blaine running down the hall toward him. He quickly composed himself as Blaine approached him.

He stopped a few feet away and was breathing a little heavy.

“What?” he asked, prompting Blaine to get on with it.

“I just, uh…” Blaine trailed off again when he looked at Kurt; he never failed to be amazed by him. Kurt averted his eyes towards the floor; he didn’t feel like he deserved Blaine to be looking at him like that.

“Kurt, will you go out for coffee with me?”

Kurt’s head snapped up to look at Blaine like he was crazy. “I—I mean, it wouldn’t be like a date or anything,” Kurt felt his heart sink a little, “but I just want to get to know you some more. You seem like an interesting person, and I like being around you and I figured that we could just get some coffee and talk and get to know each other a little bit more and I just…” Blaine realized he was rambling at this point. “I just… thought I’d ask.”

Now Blaine averted his eyes, he felt silly for even asking. Why would someone like Kurt want to hang out with someone like Blaine?

“You want to get coffee with me?” He heard a soft voice say. He looked up to see Kurt looking at him defensively, almost like he thought Blaine was tricking him or something.

“Yeah. Yeah, I really would.” He said, straightening up a little.

“And you just… want to talk?” Kurt looked even more apprehensive, like Blaine was suggesting the most absurd thing he had ever heard.

“Yes.” Blaine said with the most confidence he could. He wanted to assure Kurt that he was serious.

Kurt continued looking apprehensively at him for a few moments before he finally gave him an answer.

“Okay,” he said with a small nod.

~*~*~

Blaine drove them to a coffee shop, that afternoon, about fifteen minutes away from the school.

To say that Kurt was nervous would be an understatement. Sure, he had agreed to it, but he was still unsure about _why_ Blaine had any interest in getting coffee with him in the first place. He figured he would just have to find out for himself.

They had just gotten their drinks and had sat down at a table.

“So, Kurt,” Blaine began.

“What’s your angle?” Kurt interrupted him. He figured he should get straight to the point before he got in too deep.

“What—Kurt, what do you mean?” Blaine was confused, “I told you, I just—“

“’Just wanted to get to know me’, yeah yeah yeah. Cut the crap. What is going on? What do you want?” Kurt wanted to know the truth, and even if he had to be rude, he was going to get it.

“Kurt, I—“ Blaine looked down at his drink, fiddling with the lid. “I’m serious. I don’t know what it is about you, but I just want to know more about you. I think you are interesting and I want to be able to talk with you and be your friend.” Blaine looked up from his drink to see the scowl gone from Kurt’s face, replaced by a bemused look.

After a few moments of silence between them, Kurt simply asked, “why?”

Blaine simply replied, “why not?”

~*~*~

The conversation seemed to flow easily enough after that. Blaine asked Kurt about his day and that was as deep as the conversation went for the day. They shared stories and gossip just like they were long lost friends. They talked and laughed all afternoon, keeping the conversation light, and Kurt had never felt more comfortable in his life.

At one point there was a small lull in the conversation, and Blaine asked, “Kurt, why is it so hard for you to believe that I would just want to hang out with you?”

Kurt didn’t freeze up or get defensive like Blaine had anticipated him to. But he just kept a passive look on his face and stared at his hands, as if he was contemplating his answer.

“I have a hard time trusting people,” he glanced up at Blaine, “and usually for good reason.” He returned to fiddling with his coffee cup.

“I don’t take the time to get to know people because they usually end up not being worth the time anyway. The last time I got to comfortable around people it didn’t end well and it…” he got a lost look in his eyes as his voice trailed off. He snapped out of his trance and glanced back up at Blaine and tried to shrug it off. “it just didn’t end well.”

Kurt was trying to laugh it off as if it were nothing, but Blaine could see his eyes were becoming a little more wet and he could see that whatever had happened was still affecting Kurt.

“What happened?” He asked, concerned. Kurt chuckled as he looked back over at Blaine.

“That maybe a little too deep for our first coffee outing,” he said as he tried to discreetly wipe away a tear from the corner of his eye.

Blaine didn’t want to push Kurt too far and loose whatever small amount of trust he had built up with him, so he simply nodded and changed the subject.

~*~*~

The next two afternoons were spent much the same way. After detention Blaine would drive Kurt to the coffee shop and they would sit and talk for hours. They talked about everything.

Blaine talked about his transfer and how it had been his parent’s idea. He talked about how his father expected him to grow up to be some rich CEO or something when all he really wanted to do was perform. He talked about how his parents never talked about his sexuality because they figured if they ignored it, it would go away. Blaine talked about his old friends and his older brother who skipped town when Blaine was little to go to California. He also talked about his past with bullying, and how he had gone to Dalton in the first place to avoid all of it.

Kurt talked about his father, how they were all they had in the world. He talked about how his mother had passed away when he was younger, and how he still misses her. He talked about how his father had become a congressman just before Kurt’s junior year, and Kurt never bothered him with his bullying problems because he had enough on his plate. Kurt talked about how he loved his father and his father loved him, but he was rarely around anymore with him traveling all the time to Washington. Kurt talked about how he had joined the Skanks and how he and Quinn looked out for each other. He talked about his dreams to escape to New York after graduation and maybe go into fashion.

They would talk for hours each day and after he and Kurt had parted ways, Blaine felt elated with the time he had spent with Kurt.

It was late Wednesday afternoon, they would be leaving the coffee shop at any time now, when Blaine decided to ask Kurt something that had been nagging at the back of his mind for a while.

“Why do you act differently around me when we are alone than when we are with other people?”

Kurt looked at Blaine, who was looking at him with earnest eyes, and sighed. He had expected this to come up at some point, he knew Blaine wasn’t stupid, he just didn’t know how to explain it.

“Blaine, you know what the bullying is like at McKinley, and that my past with it isn’t good,” Kurt still hadn’t given Blaine the details about what exactly went on during his junior year, but Blaine was aware that it wasn’t pretty. “When I joined the Skanks to escape it all, I had to start acting differently. I had to pretend to be… not myself, in order for it to all stop. The way I act when I am around other people, that is how I have to act to get the bullies to leave me alone. It’s how I have to act to survive.”

He was too busy staring at the table he was scratching his nail on to look up and see the sympathetic look on Blaine’s face. That was the last thing he needed. Pity.

“But it’s different with you,” he felt his cheeks getting warm. “When I am around you I start acting like myself again, and I just…” he looked up to see the surprised look on Blaine’s face, and he quickly looked back down. “it’s just different with you…” he trailed off. He wasn’t about to tell Blaine how much he just wanted to be with him, how he would do anything to protect him, and how he never wanted to leave Blaine at the end of the day.

“Why me?” Blaine asked softly.

Kurt just shook his head, “I don’t know.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

“No.”

“Aww, come on, Blaine.”

“No way. Absolutely not.”

“What’s the matter, Curly Top? Afraid to live a little?”

“No, I’m afraid to _die_ a little.”

Blaine and Kurt were standing in the student parking lot staring at Kurt’s motorcycle. Kurt was trying to convince Blaine to let him drive to the coffee shop. Kurt had insisted, since Blaine had driven to the shop each time they had gone, that it was his turn to be the mode of transportation.

“Come on, Blaine. I ride this to school every day and I’m fine,” Kurt tried to reassure Blaine.

“Yes, you are fine, but you are on it by yourself. What if it is much harder to control with two people on board, or what if I do something to screw it up and we BOTH die, or what if—“

“Blaine.” Kurt stepped in front of Blaine and covered his mouth with his hand.

“We. Will. Be. Fine. I will be extra careful, if it makes you feel better. I even have a helmet that you can use,” Kurt removed his hand from Blaine’s mouth. Blaine had been stunned by the contact.

“Unless it makes you feel _that_ uncomfortable, then we can go in your car. But seriously, it will be fine.”

After a moment of inner debating, Blaine sighed in defeat, “Alright.”

A wide grin spread across Kurt’s face and he made his way over to the bike. He opened the seat and pulled out a helmet and tossed it to Blaine.

Kurt straddled the bike and patted the seat behind him motioning for Blaine to join him. Blaine sighed in defeat again and sat behind Kurt. He secured the helmet on his head and tried not to think too much about the way he was sitting in relation to Kurt.

“Where is _your_ helmet?” Blaine asked Kurt, confused.

Kurt smirked, “You’re wearing it.”

“Wait, what?”

Kurt kick started the bike to life, and Blaine jumped at the sudden loud noise.

“You are going to want to hang on,” Kurt said over his shoulder. Blaine had no idea what to do, so he placed his hands on Kurt’s shoulders. He could feel Kurt’s shoulders move as he laughed, before Kurt moved his arms to wrap around his waist instead.

“Hang on tight,” Kurt said over his shoulder, still smirking, and Blaine tightened his arms, not wanting to be injured from this experience. He only hoped that Kurt could not feel how fast his heart was beating from where his chest is pressed against Kurt’s back.

~*~*~

They made it to the coffee shop without a hitch. As they walked toward the entrance Kurt bumped his shoulder with Blaine’s, “Told you everything would be fine.”

Blaine just laughed a little and bumped Kurt’s shoulder in return.

Their afternoon was filled with their comfortable conversation and laughter, and would carry on until it was almost closing time.

When Kurt took Blaine back to the school, Blaine allowed himself to just enjoy the ride and bask in the feeling of being close to Kurt.

~*~*~

“What’s going on with you and Anderson?” Quinn asked.

She and Kurt were sitting behind the football field bleachers, skipping class.

Kurt was not expecting the question, and he was a little nervous about trying to answer it.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” he decided to answer instead.

“Cut the crap, Hummel. Puckerman saw you leaving yesterday with him on the back of your motorcycle. What the hell is going on?” She had turned to face him, putting him under her direct scrutiny.

He sighed with a mixture of annoyance and defeat, “I don’t know, he just… he wanted to hang out, and he seemed nice, so I said yes. What’s the harm in getting coffee after school?” He asked directing his gaze elsewhere besides her judging glare.

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong with that,” she said poking him in the arm, getting him to look at her, “if even _one_ of those meat headed jocks sees you with him, it’s not going to be good. Those neanderthals are just looking for an opportunity to harass people, and you being with Anderson is the perfect opportunity for that.”

“I know that, Quinn,” Kurt replied with a bite to his voice, “Believe me, _I_ of all people _know_ what they can do. I was living in hell last year, remember?”

Her look softened when he brought up the previous year, “There is nothing going on between us, at least not yet, and these coffee outings are nothing beyond platon--,”

“Wait, did you say ‘ _yet_ ’?! Kurt Hummel what the _hell_ are you thinking?,” she said smacking him over the head.

“I don’t know! Chill out, woman!” he said back, covering his head trying to protect himself from further abuse.

She sighed in defeat and sat down hard next to him again. “He is just… he’s sweet,” he said quietly next to her.

“Kurt, why are you getting involved? Why do you care?” she asked in a softer tone than previously in the conversation. Kurt was quiet for a few moments before he answered.

“Because he cares too, I can tell. When we are talking, he just listens to me, and he seems genuinely interested in what I have to say. He has no expectations about anything between us. He told me the other day that he just likes being in my company, and he is just sweet and nice and a perfect gentleman and--,”

“Alright, alright,” Quinn said shoving his shoulder, causing him to rock a little bit, “don’t go getting all mushy on me.” They both chuckled a little bit, but Kurt’s expression quickly returned to forlorn when he started thinking about what could possibly happen if the jocks at the school found out about their association.

He had been avoiding Blaine during school hours for the main reason of protecting him. Everyone knew Kurt was gay, but none of the jocks knew about Blaine. If they did, he would quickly become their next target, and Kurt didn’t want Blaine to have to go through that.

“You said you two have been talking a lot?” Quinn interrupted his thoughts.

“Yeah,”

“Have you told him about last year?”

“Not exactly…”

“What _have_ you told him?”

“He knows I was bullied, that’s it,”

Quinn nodded her head in understanding.

“Kurt, just be careful,” she said, laying her hand over his, where it lay between them, to pat it gently.

He sighed, “I’m trying…”

~*~*~

Later that day, Kurt was making his way toward the detention room. There were still a few students milling about the hallways, since school had just got out about ten minutes ago. His head was down, thoughts still caught up in his and Quinn’s conversation, when he was roughly shoved into the nearest set of lockers.

After recovering from the shock of the incident, Kurt yelled after the retreating red jacket, “What the fuck is your problem!?”

The outburst was more of a knee-jerk reaction than anything. After he had joined the Skanks, he had been taught not to take crap from anybody, and had yelled many a slurs at the neanderthals of McKinley in those early days.

But the instigator didn’t turn around, just kept walking the opposite way.

After Kurt had let his anger subside somewhat, fear began to take its place. As he continued to walk to the detention room, flashes of the bullying from previous years began to come back to him. He could almost feel the old bruises on his skin already, and he had to fight the urge to check around corners before he turned them or to check behind himself to make sure no one was following him.

He hated living this way, living in fear. He would not go back to living that way. He refused.

As Kurt walked into the detention room, the first thing he saw was Blaine. He was sitting on a table chatting with Mercedes and Artie, and he was laughing at something one of them had said. Kurt felt his heart swell at the sight of him. The way his eyes lit up when he laughed and his dazzling smile, were enough to stop Kurt in his tracks.

Just then, Blaine looked over to the door to see Kurt standing there. Blaine’s eyes lit up even more, and his smile widened, both of which Kurt thought would have been impossible for him to do. He gave Kurt a small wave, and Kurt couldn’t help but smile and return the gesture.

A few minutes later Johnson was sitting at his desk, scrutinizing everyone, and Blaine was scribbling down an essay. Kurt couldn’t help but notice how cute he was when he was concentrating. His curls fell slightly over his face, and he scrunched up his mouth slightly.

Kurt shook his head, out of fondness, and he became aware of how quickly Blaine was stealing his heart, and how easily he was letting him.

Quinn hadn’t been wrong, the first chance that any of the jocks could find a way to bully them, they would do it. But, the thought of not having Blaine in his life made his heart ache, and he was not willing to let Blaine go. The thought of how quickly he was becoming attached scared him, but there was just something _about_ Blaine that made him trust him, and made him feel like his feelings were not going to waste.

Just then, Blaine decided to look up and meet Kurt’s gaze, give him a little smile, then return to his work.

While Kurt had decided that he would _not_ live in fear any more, he also decided that he would not let that have an effect on his relationship with Blaine… whatever level it may be on…

~*~*~

The next day, Kurt was driving Blaine back to the school, after their coffee run, on his bike. Blaine was pressed against Kurt’s back and his arms were wrapped securely around his waist. Kurt still hadn’t gotten used to the feeling of Blaine’s arms around him.

The pulled into the empty parking lot, save for Blaine’s car, and parked next to it. Blaine hopped off the back of the bike and turned to face Kurt, who cut the engine. Kurt swung his leg off the bike, but remained sitting on the bike to keep it balanced. Blaine was giving him a wide grin, and he couldn’t help but return it. They had gotten to know each other a lot over the past week, and Kurt found that he had no problem being himself around Blaine anymore.

“Thanks for the ride,” Blaine said, rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands clasped behind his back. Kurt couldn’t help but laugh a little bit at how young Blaine looked at that moment.

“It’s no problem. Blaine, I--,” Kurt felt comfortable when he was around Blaine, like that was where he was supposed to be. He couldn’t help but think that was the reason why he would do anything to protect Blaine. Hell, he would just do _anything_ for him. The thought still scared him, but he felt like he could be himself around Blaine, and that was something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Blaine was the first person that he actually _cared_ about in a long time. He felt like everything was right, and as long as he was with Blaine, everything else would be okay too.

“I just wanted to thank you too,” he felt like his words could not accurately describe what he was feeling, but it was the best he could do at that moment.

“What for?” Blaine asked as he stepped closer to Kurt. He was momentarily distracted by the action, but he forced himself to focus and answer Blaine’s question.

“Nobody here really bothers to get to know me. Ever since I started high school people just assumed things about me, and most of the time they weren’t true, but nobody seemed to care.”

Blaine placed his hand on Kurt’s shoulder, “Well, Kurt Hummel, I have gotten to know you over the past week, and I like what I have learned so far,”

Kurt giggled at what Blaine said, actually fucking giggled, and he didn’t chide himself for it like he normally would. Blaine had the power to melt his resolve, and he didn’t care one bit.

Blaine carried on, “And not only that, but I care about you too.”

Kurt froze. Nobody had ever said something like that to him before, besides his father. He looked up at Blaine, who was standing very close now, and noticed when Blaine’s eyes flickered down to his lips.

“Thank you,” he all but whispered, afraid that if he spoke any louder he would break the atmosphere that had built up around them.

Blaine paused for a moment, then answered by simply leaning in and pressing his lips to Kurt’s.

Kurt felt himself inhale sharply, but before he got the chance to reciprocate the kiss, even the slightest, Blaine was pulling away.

Blaine’s eyes widened when he saw the somewhat shocked look on Kurt’s face and began apologizing immediately.

“Oh my gosh, Kurt I am so sorry, I don’t even know what came over me, please don’t hate me,” Blaine finished his nervous rambling. His eyes were full of worry as he looked at Kurt, who had just sat there staring at him through his whole ramble, the look of surprise still on his face.

Blaine was surprised when Kurt didn’t shove him away and speed off never to talk to him again, but rather, he slowly reached up his hand, and cupped Blaine’s jaw. He carefully pulled Blaine down as he leaned up so that their lips could meet again.

To Blaine, their kiss made him feel like he was flying. He felt so happy and care free, like everything was perfect. To Kurt, it felt like comfort, and reassurance. He felt like none of the crappy things in his life would matter anymore, as long as he got to stay with Blaine.

Their kiss deepened, as Kurt slid his hand from Blaine’s jaw to tangle in his hair, and Blaine tilted his head to closer to Kurt. They continued to kiss until the need for air became too much and they hesitantly pulled away.

They both laughed a little bit at the sight of each other. Blaine’s hair was sticking up weirdly from where Kurt had run his fingers through it, and both of their lips were red from their kisses. Kurt gently patted down Blaine’s awry hair as his thoughts wandered to what had just happened. Kurt had always wanted someone special to call his own, but after his sophomore year, he had given up on that dream, as long as he was in Ohio. But now, here Blaine was, standing right in front of him, staring at him affectionately, just waiting for him.

Kurt thought back to the jock that had shoved him the day before, and how afraid he had been about what people would say or do. But with Blaine looking at him like that, he felt that he didn’t care one bit.

“Blaine?” he asked, taking his hand.

“Yeah?” he replied, eyes flickering down to their hands before returning to Kurt’s face.

Kurt brushed his thumb across Blaine’s knuckles a few times before asking, “Would you go on a date with me?”

Blaine’s face split into a wide grin.

 


	6. Chapter 6

To say that Blaine was nervous would have been an understatement.

He was going on a date with Kurt. _Kurt Hummel_. Of course he was nervous. He had been thinking all day about ways to make sure he did not screw up or make a fool out of himself in front of Kurt.

Kurt was supposed to be picking him up any minute now, and Blaine was pacing around his room trying to let off some of his nervous energy. It didn’t seem to be working.

When he heard the doorbell ring he had to restrain himself from running down the stairs to get to the door. He took a deep breath before answering it, but it proved futile, because as soon as he saw Kurt all of the breath was stolen out of his lungs.

He looked positively fantastic wearing black pants with a grey shirt, a black ascot tucked neatly into the neckline, and a formfitting black waistcoat. Blaine had almost missed the fact that Kurt had said something, he was so busy taking in his appearance.

“I like your bow tie,” Kurt said as a greeting. Blaine blushed at the comment and reached up instinctively to adjust it.

“Thanks. You look amazing,” Blaine said as he stepped out onto the porch to lock the door behind himself. It was Kurt’s turn to blush at the complement.

“Thank you. You’re not too bad yourself,” He said smugly while patting Blaine’s cheek. He reached down to grab Blaine’s wrist to pull him off the porch.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said, pulling Blaine toward his car.

~*~*~

Kurt took him to a nice restaurant on the outskirts of Lima, just far enough away to where they would not have any undesirable encounters with anyone from school. The dinner had gone smoothly, with comfortable conversation flowing throughout the night. When the check had arrived, Blaine had reached for it, but Kurt quickly snatched it up insisting that since he had asked Blaine, that he would pay.

To Blaine, the evening was perfect so far. After they left the restaurant, Kurt told Blaine that there was a park nearby, and inquired if he would want to go for a walk. Blaine agreed, and they headed toward the park.

As they walked around the pathway that was circling a small lake, sometimes weaving in between trees, Blaine wondered what things would be like when they were in the company of their peers once again. Kurt had once told Blaine that the reason why he acted differently at school was for protection. Kurt had to act tough so no one would torment him, and Blaine understood that. But, when Monday came around, would Kurt completely ignore him and brush him off? Would he pretend like he never knew him? Would he even be rude to him to make sure no one got any bright ideas?

Kurt must have noticed the panic that Blaine was building up his head because he stopped walking and grabbed Blaine’s hand to stop him as well when Blaine was too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice.

“Sorry,” Blaine tried to laugh it off, but he was still somewhat caught up in his thoughts.

Kurt just looked at him for a moment before asking, “Blaine, what’s wrong?”

His tone was gentle, the most gentle Blaine had ever heard him be, and it made Blaine wonder again how long would that be around.

He shook his head, “I just… I keep thinking…” Blaine tried to come up with a way to approach the subject as Kurt pulled him over to a nearby park bench.

As they sat down Blaine took a deep breath and started talking.

“What is going to happen on Monday?” Kurt looked somewhat confused at the question, but Blaine kept going. “I know you said that you had to keep up a certain appearance at school so people would leave you alone, but I really like you like this, when it is just us hanging out. N-not that I don’t like you the other way too, but I just… You seem so happy and carefree outside of school, and I’m not asking you to stop keeping up appearances at school, but I was wondering what was going to happen between us when we got back around people we know. I guess I would understand if you wanted to ignore me when we are around other people, but I would just want you to tell me that now so that I could be prepared for that when it happened, and so—“

“Blaine.” Kurt cut him off, and Blaine realized that he had been rambling again.

“Sorry,” Blaine said meekly. “I guess I am just wondering what is going to happen.”

Kurt paused for a while, looking out over the lake while he pondered his answer.

After a few minutes he finally broke the silence with his answer.

“I’m not sure,” he said still looking out over the lake. Blaine visibly deflated a little at his answer, feeling a little discouraged.

Kurt, seeing the look on Blaine’s face, quickly took Blaine’s hands and back peddled.

“Oh, no no no, that’s not what I mean. Blaine, I really like you too,” at this, Blaine perked up a little more, “but you are right in that I don’t think that I can drop my appearance at school. Not only for my safety, but yours too. The jocks would treat you badly too if they found out that you and I were seeing each other. I don’t want something like that to happen to you, Blaine. I care about you too much to let that happen.”

Kurt reached up and began stroking his thumb along Blaine’s cheek bone. “I’m not going to ignore you at school either. It’s true that we won’t be able to act romantically in any way toward each other, but I’m not going to pretend like you don’t exist.”

Kurt had actively avoided Blaine during the day before to keep the jocks at bay, but now that he and Blaine were closer, he knew he couldn’t bring himself to do that anymore. He would deal with any repercussions that came about because of that, and he swore to himself, not for the first time, that he would still protect Blaine from the jocks.

“Okay,” Blaine replied, and then he grinned looking up at Kurt, “So, you like me huh?”

Kurt laughed a little, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

He leaned in to give Blaine a small kiss before he stood up and pulled Blaine with him. “I should probably take you home, it’s getting pretty late.”

As they walked back through the park to Kurt’s car, they never let go of their intertwined hands.

~*~*~

Kurt walked Blaine up to his porch when they got to Blaine’s house that night. Blaine paused before going inside, turning to face Kurt.

“I had fun tonight,” he said with a smile.

Kurt smiled too and replied, “Me too.”

“Do you think that I can get an opportunity to take _you_ on a date?”

Kurt laughed, “I think that could be arranged.”

“Good.” Blaine said with a nod.

They looked at each other for a few more moments before Kurt moved forward and kissed Blaine again. It was longer than the one they had shared earlier in the evening, but still short enough to leave Blaine wanting more.

So, when Kurt pulled away, and was about to turn to leave, Blaine grabbed his hand to stop him. Kurt looked back at him questioningly, and Blaine reached behind his neck to pull him in for another kiss.

It was more drawn out this time, slow and sweet, and before either of them knew it, Blaine had backed Kurt up against the side of the porch. Their lips slid together smoothly, and Blaine was pretty sure that he would never get tired of kissing Kurt. Their kiss was deepened further when Blaine slowly slipped his tongue between Kurt’s parted lips. He heard Kurt inhale sharply, but the gesture was returned with just as much fervor as Kurt grabbed his shoulders to pull him closer.

They continued kissing deeply until they both needed air and they reluctantly pulled away.

Kurt smiled widely when he met Blaine’s eyes again, and he couldn’t help but move back in to give Blaine another kiss.

“Okay, I really should go,” Kurt said after the kiss.

“Do you have to?” Blaine whined, nuzzling against the side of Kurt’s neck, which caused Kurt to chuckle.

“Yes, I do.” He slowly pulled out of Blaine’s embrace until just their hands were cradled together.

“Goodnight, Blaine,” he gave Blaine a small kiss on the cheek and turned to leave.

~*~*~

Blaine had gotten used to having Mercedes meet him in the parking lot in the mornings before school and they would walk in together, occasionally accompanied by Artie. But what Blaine wasn’t used to seeing was Kurt standing on the edge of the parking lot, chatting with Mercedes, waiting for him.

When he approached them Mercedes greeted him cheerfully, “Morning, Blaine!”

“Good Morning, Mercedes,” Blaine replied before looking over at Kurt.

The other boy gave him a timid smile before greeting him with a, “Hey.”

It was the most Kurt had ever said to him when their peers were around, and Blaine couldn’t help but smile and return it with a “Hey,” of his own.

When he looked back over to Mercedes, she was looking between the two of them with suspicious eyes. She pointed at the two of them and said, “We shall discuss this later.”

After that she promptly hooked her arm between Blaine’s and the three of them began walking toward the school.

~*~*~

The rest of the day passed smoothly enough, and Blaine saw Kurt more during the day. Kurt did skip one of the classes he shared with Blaine, which was no strange occurrence, but he actually walked with Blaine to one of the other ones they shared. He and Quinn even joined them for lunch in the cafeteria, whereas usually they were nowhere to be found.

By the time detention afterschool came around, Blaine figured he would be used to seeing Kurt around more. But, he was surprised when Kurt waltzed into the room and unexpectedly sat next to him at the same table.

Blaine could only stare at him for a few moments in shock before Kurt turned to him and arched an eyebrow at Blaine’s look. Blaine was reminded of their early encounters, before they knew each other, as he blushed and looked back down at his homework.

As soon as the door had clicked after Mr. Johnson had left, Mercedes and Artie were standing in front of them in a flash.

“So, you guys are finally dating, huh?” Mercedes said with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Wait, what? I—I, umm…” Blaine started to panic. He wasn’t sure if Kurt wanted to keep everything a secret or what, but Blaine hadn’t told anybody, so he didn’t want Kurt thinking that he had gone around telling everybody.

“It’s okay, Blaine. We couldn’t have kept a secret from her if we wanted to.” Kurt said as he stood up.

“Wait, where are you going?” Blaine asked. He didn’t want to be stuck alone with Mercedes and Artie. He was pretty sure they were going to interrogate him and, truth be told, he was kind of scared.

“Quinn wants to talk to me. Mercedes, be nice.” He said as he turned away to walk to where Quinn was sitting on the other side of the room.

“Oh we will,” Artie replied as he and Mercedes moved to sit in front of Blaine.

“So, are you lovebirds getting married yet?” Mercedes said casually.

“How many kids are you two going to have?” Artie said just as nonchalantly.

“Whoa whoa, what? Nothing like that is going to happen. We have only been on one date. I don’t even know if he likes me that much. I mean, yeah he told me he liked me, but I don’t know if it is enough for this to go anywhere. I mean, I _really_ like him and care about him, and I don’t want to screw this up.”

Mercedes and Artie exchanged a look before he said, “Oh, little Blainey. How naïve thou art.”

“What are you talking about?” Blaine looked between them quizzically.

“Of course Kurt likes you that much!” Mercedes pseudo-whispered to him, so that the boy in question sitting across the room didn’t hear them.

“How do you know?” Blaine asked.

“We can just tell,” Artie answered. “We have known him long enough to see the change. He just looks more… more…”

While Artie was pondering the right word to use, Tina and Mike suddenly walked up, and Mike said, “Happy.” And then they walked off.

“Yes!” Artie said. “He just looks happier when he is around you.”

Blaine couldn’t tell that Kurt had changed around his friends at all. Sure he was different when they were alone, but he seemed to be acting the same around everybody else.

“I think you two are imagining things.” Blaine said shaking his head.

“Trust us,” Mercedes said with a smirk, “we can tell.”

Blaine looked over to Kurt who was sitting on a desk opposite Quinn as they were discussing whatever Quinn wanted to talk to him about.

~*~*~

Kurt and Quinn sat across from each other in silence for a while after Kurt sat down in front of her. Kurt really didn’t want to explain himself to anyone. Even Quinn.

Sure, she had been there for him when he was going through a hard time, and he would always be grateful for that, and they could be considered friends, in his mind anyway, but he still didn’t want to have to explain every detail of his reasoning behind every single one of his actions to her. She wasn’t he keeper or anything.

After a while, Quinn finally spoke. “So, you two are dating, huh?”

Kurt glared at her, “Yeah, so what of it?” he said crossing his arms.

“Whoa, there Kurtsie, a little less ice please. I’m just trying to confirm suspicions, because if you are, then Puckerman owes me ten bucks.”

“Wait, what?” Kurt relaxed a little when he slowly started to realize that he wasn’t about to have to defend his actions to Quinn.

“Puckerman owes me because he thought it would be Thanksgiving break before one of you finally cracked, but I knew you wouldn’t be able to last until the end of the month,” she explained as she looked around the room and motioning to Puck once she caught his eye.

Puck sauntered over and reluctantly slapped a ten into her open palm, mumbling about a rigged system or something or other.

When they looked over at Kurt, he was just sitting on the table giving them both blank stares.

“What?” Puck asked.

“But… but you,” Kurt stammered.

“Ah, I see,” Quinn cut him off. “You thought I was going to try to convince you that this was a bad idea and that you should cut it off immediately or try to get you to justify your actions and yadda yadda yadda, right?”

“Well, I… yeah. You almost slapped my arm off when you found out we started hanging out!” Kurt was still confused as to why she wasn’t upset with him.

“Kurt, I think it is safe to say we are friends, right?” Quinn said leaning forward in her seat, almost like it was a big secret.

Kurt nodded, “Yeah, I would say so…”

“I am just doing what friends do. I’m looking out for your best interests. I'm fairly confident that you are smart enough to know what you are doing and that you can take care of yourself. I can’t control your life. That’s up to you.” She paused momentarily to glance over to the group where Blaine was sitting.

“But I also see the way he looks at you, and I know that you feel the same way toward him. No matter if you admit it or not.” she said reaching over and poking him in the shoulder. Kurt laughed a little bit at the action.

“Yeah, dude. You should date whoever the hell you want,” Puck said, while trying to snatch back the ten from Quinn’s hand. “You like him, he likes you. Simple as that.”

Kurt sighed, “I wish it were that simple.”

Quinn pushed Puck’s head away, causing him to stumble back a few steps. “Are you worried about the jocks?” she asked as she put the money in her pocket.

Kurt nodded. He couldn’t help but worry for Blaine’s safety in this whole thing. He didn’t think he could live with himself if anything bad happened to him.

Puck clapped him on the shoulder, “Don’t worry about it man. Things will be alright,” he said before walking away back over to the other group.

Kurt found himself transfixed with the sight of Blaine chatting casually with everyone in the group, the way he seemed to fit in with their group, like a puzzle piece that was meant to be there the whole time.

“Quinn,” he whispered, almost at a loss for breath. She didn’t respond, but he knew she was listening, and he continued in the same soft whisper, “I think I’m falling in love with him…”

There was silence between them for a few minutes before Quinn replied, “I don’t see why you shouldn’t.”

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for brief (poorly written) sexytimes, I guess?

It had been about a week since Blaine and Kurt had gone on their first date. They still went out to get coffee after school together, but they had only been on one _real_ date together.

Blaine wanted to change that.

_~*~*~_

_He gathered up his courage and held Kurt back after detention._

_“Hey, Kurt, can you hang on for a sec?”_

_“Yeah, sure. What’s up?”_

_Everyone had filed out, leaving them alone in the room._

_“Do you think you might… Would you like to go on another date with me?”_

_“Blaine, you are blushing.”_

_“Shut up.” Blaine ducked his head to try and hide it._

_Kurt had just laughed and kissed his cheek._

_“I’d love to go on another date with you.”_

_~*~*~_

Blaine could feel a smile grow on his face as he remembered the event, and if there was a little bounce in his step as he headed for the garage, no one could blame him.

“Where are you off to, hon?” His mother asked as he passed through the kitchen.

He had hoped to leave the house without many questions from either of his parents.

“Just going out,” Blaine said, still moving toward the garage.

“Whoa, hang on just a second,” she called after him. Looks like he wouldn’t be so lucky. “Where are you going?”

“I’m just going to hang out with a friend from school.” He did not feel like having this conversation with his mom, and he just wanted to leave.

She looked at him suspiciously and smirked, “Just a friend, huh?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Come on, Blaine. I _am_ your mother. You don’t think I can’t read my own son?”

Blaine sighed, “Okay fine. I’ve got a date.” Blaine was mentally prepared for the next part, where he would have to lie and pretend it was a girl he was dating just so he would not have to endure any long lectures or cold glances.

“What’s his name?” he mother asked sweetly instead.

Blaine could only stare at her blankly for a few moments. He was not expecting his mother to even acknowledge the fact that it was going to be a guy that Blaine was going on a date with. The subject of his sexuality had never come up since he came out. He figured his parents were abiding by the ignore-it-and-it-will-go-away philosophy.

“Y-you… his… what?”

“Look, honey. I know your father and I haven’t exactly been supportive of you these past few years, and I’m sorry for that. But, we are trying. It is just something that we have to get used to. I know we haven’t really been showing it lately, but we do love you. You are our son, and we love you no matter what, you just may have to give us a little bit of time.”

Blaine could feel moisture building behind his eyes, and he quickly went over to his mom and hugged her tight. She returned his embrace just as tightly.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

When he pulled back, he had to wipe his eyes as she asked again, “So? What’s his name?”

Blaine chuckled a little, “Kurt. His name is Kurt.”

“And you’re happy?” his mother asked with a concerned look on her face.

Blaine simply nodded, trying to keep his smile from getting any larger.

“Okay, good,” his mother said with a nod of her own, “Well, I don’t want to make you late. You’d better get going.”

Blaine hugged her again, before thanking her again and heading out to his car.

~*~*~

“Exactly how old _are_ you?” Kurt asked as Blaine pulled into the parking lot of their destination.

“What?” Blaine asked a little defensively.

“An arcade, Blaine? Seriously?”

“Aww, come on Kurt, it’s gonna be fun!” He said eagerly hopping out of the car and running around to the other side to open Kurt’s door.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Well it won’t be if you act like a sour-puss the whole time.”

“Oh shut up, Curly Top.”

Blaine led Kurt into the building that proclaimed itself to be “Games n’ Fun!” and immediately went toward the token machine. Kurt took a moment to look around the place. One wall was entirely devoted to prizes and there was a small bar off to the side that served sodas and concession stand food. There were loud and flashing arcade games all around the room with people there of all ages.

When Blaine came back over to Kurt, he was holding two cups, each about half full of tokens. He handed one to Kurt as he said, “I’ll try not to kick your butt _too_ badly,” with a wink.

“Oh, you wish Anderson.”

Though Kurt was apprehensive at first, he had tons of fun playing with Blaine. Kurt beat Blaine at air hockey, but Blaine was the master in car racing. At one point Kurt won a fifty ticket bonus in some Wheel-of-Fortune-esque game, while Blaine stood by grumbled about beginner’s luck.

Blaine was playing a game and he looked so concentrated that Kurt couldn’t resist the temptation to mess him up. He walked up behind Blaine and poked his sides, causing him to jerk and loose his game.

“Hey!” Blaine exclaimed, turning to see Kurt innocently walking away. “Oh no you don’t,” he said wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him back to him. “You’re not getting away that easily.” He tickled Kurt’s sides a few times for payback.

“Okay, okay!” Kurt said breathlessly after laughing so much. “No more!”

Blaine’s hand’s settled around his waist again, and he laughed a little. “Alright, well, I am going to turn in my tickets and get some drinks. You want anything?” Blaine said into his ear. Kurt couldn’t help but blush at the close proximity.

“Y-yeah. Anything is fine.”

“’Kay.” Was all Blaine replied before he slinked away from Kurt and went toward the prize counter.

Kurt had to catch his breath for a moment before he faced Blaine again. He and Blaine had been hanging out for a while now, and Kurt was amazed at how Blaine could still take his breath away. Kurt wandered aimlessly around the arcade as he thought about the increasing feelings he was developing toward Blaine.

He hadn’t lied when he told Quinn he was falling in love with Blaine, but what he wasn’t sure about was if he could _already_ be hopelessly in love with him.

By the time Kurt had made it to the prize counter Blaine was already off getting their drinks. Kurt turned in his tickets and looked up at the huge wall of prizes. He saw a small grey bear with a bow tie sitting on one of the lower shelves, and he knew exactly what he was going to get.

~*~*~

Blaine was sitting at a small table, when Kurt found him again, with their drinks sitting in front of him.

“Hey,” Kurt said as he sat down.

Blaine smiled, “Hey, yourself. Did you get your prize, Mr. Win-the-jackpot-on-his-first-try?”

Kurt rolled his eyes, “You’re just jealous that I kicked _your_ butt when you were so certain that you would beat me.”

“I’m tellin’ you, it was just beginner’s luck.” Blaine said shaking his head.

“I think you doubt me, Anderson.” Kurt said leaning forward in his seat a little.

“Is that so?” Blaine smirked as he leaned on his elbows resting on the table.

“Mhmm. Never underestimate a Hummel.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Blaine said as he laughed.

Kurt smiled in return, and pulled his prize out of its bag. “Here,” he said as he held out the bear.

“What?” Blaine looked surprised.

“It’s for you.”

Blaine gingerly took the bear from Kurt. “Thank you. He’s cute.” Blaine said as he tweaked its bow tie.

“I thought so too.” Kurt smiled.

“Here, I got something for you too,” Blaine reached over to the bag sitting next to him, “We can’t all be big-ticket winners like you, but it’s just something small.”

Blaine pulled out a small woven bracelet that had a rainbow of colors running through it. “I thought it was pretty, and you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to, I just thought—“

Blaine was cut off when Kurt put his elbow on the table and held his wrist toward Blaine. He blushed a little bit as he tied it around Kurt’s wrist carefully. Kurt pulled his hand back and inspected the small bracelet.

“I love it.” He said, smiling up at Blaine.

Blaine felt giddy inside and could do nothing but return the smile.

~*~*~

After leaving the arcade, Blaine took Kurt to a nearby movie theatre where they caught a showing of a rom-com for the hell of it. About ten minutes into the movie Kurt had slid his hand into Blaine’s and they didn’t let go through the entire movie. They still hadn’t let go when they were walking out of the theatre into the cool night air.

“Admit it, Blaine. The only reason you wanted to see that movie was because Ryan Gosling was in it.”

“Hey, I didn’t hear any complaints from you about that!”

“Well I’m sure that anyone can appreciate the many _ass_ ets that he brings to the movie industry.”

Blaine laughed loudly at what Kurt had said, and Kurt couldn’t keep the grin off his own face.

After Blaine stopped laughing, they got caught up in each other’s eyes and Blaine couldn’t help but squeeze Kurt’s hand a little tighter.

Kurt smiled at him and they began walking toward the parking lot.

Blaine had thought about what he was about to do before, but he didn’t want to wait any longer and he knew it was exactly what he wanted.

Before they got much further, Blaine stopped, which caused Kurt to stop too, their hands still being interlaced.

“Hey Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we… I mean, could you—“

Kurt stepped a little closer to Blaine, looking a little worried, “Blaine, what is it?”

Blaine took a deep breath and looked right into Kurt’s eyes.

“Kurt, will you be my boyfriend?”

There was silence between them for a few moments, in which Blaine thought he would die of nervousness, until a wide smile spread across Kurt’s face. He let go of Blaine’s hand, but only so he could pull Blaine’s face toward his for a deep kiss. Blaine responded with settling his hands on Kurt’s waist and returning the kiss. They pulled back after a few moments, both a little breathless.

“So, I’ll take that as a ‘yes’?” Blaine teased.

Kurt laughed and leaned his forehead against Blaine’s. “Yeah, yes. Yes.”

“Okay, good,” Blaine moved in to kiss Kurt again, but then he felt a drop of water fall onto his cheek. He paused and looked up at the sky, and suddenly, it steadily started to rain.

Kurt just laughed and said, “How cliché is this?”

Blaine laughed too and replied, “Incredibly cliché.”

By the time they had finished their short exchange, the rain was pouring down, quickly soaking the both of them. Blaine grabbed Kurt’s hand and they both began running toward Blaine’s car at the back of the parking lot.

What neither of them noticed was David Karofsky standing by the exit of the movie theatre, watching them both.

~*~*~

Kurt and Blaine ran to Blaine’s car through the rain, clutching each other’s hands tightly. Only when they reached the car did they let go to go to their respective sides. They climbed in and slammed the doors, blocking out the rain. When they looked at each other they couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of them both soaked from the rain.

Blaine ran a hand through his wet curls, and a few drops of water ran down his neck. Kurt followed the path of the drops as they rolled down Blaine’s neck and soaked into the collar of his shirt.

Blaine looked up and they caught each other’s gazes and held them for a few moments before Kurt reached forward and pulled Blaine toward him so he could crash their lips together. Their kiss started out slow and heady when Kurt slid his tongue between Blaine’s lips, and Blaine continued to deepen it when he returned the action. Kurt reached up to tangle his fingers in Blaine’s curls, and Blaine couldn’t help but let out a little moan.

Their kiss started to become frantic when Blaine began tugging on Kurt’s waist to try and get him closer. Instead of moving across the seat, Kurt began to maneuver between the two seats to get to the back, and he pulled Blaine with him.

They eventually managed to end up in the back seat with Blaine on his back and Kurt hovering over him. Blaine pulled Kurt’s lips back down to his, and quickly pushed his tongue inside. Their kiss continued to build and become more heated; the both of them finding it hard to hold back little whimpers and moans, until Kurt unconsciously rolled his hips down against Blaine’s. They both froze and Kurt pulled back to see a shocked look on Blaine’s face.

“Oh god, I’m sorry Blaine. I didn’t mean to-- it just happened,” Kurt was trying to sit up and get off of Blaine when Blaine put a hand on Kurt’s arm to stop him.

“Why are you apologizing?” he asked as he pulled Kurt back toward him.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Kurt, please, I want you so bad. It felt good, please don’t stop.” Blaine panted as he moved up to capture Kurt’s lips again.

They exchanged a few more breathy kisses before Kurt broke away again, “Are you sure?”

Blaine answered him by pulling him back in for a fierce kiss full of teeth and tongue. Kurt could only moan and roll his hips again.

Blaine broke away to gasp for breath, “Oh god, yes, Kurt,” He said as he slowly rolled his hips up to meet Kurt’s.

Kurt attached his lips to the shallow dip between Blaine’s neck and shoulder, and began to suck and nip at the spot. He kept rolling his hips into Blaine’s as he kissed up Blaine’s neck to the soft spot behind his ear. Blaine’s breath hitched, and Kurt could feel Blaine was clinging to his back, most likely wrinkling his shirt; but at that moment, Kurt couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Blaine’s breath was coming out shorter and more quickly the tighter he held onto Kurt’s back. “Kurt, I—I’m gonna—nughh—I,”

Kurt covered Blaine’s mouth with his own to silence him, and began thrusting harder against Blaine. Blaine eagerly matched his movements, and it wasn’t long before he was moaning loudly into Kurt’s mouth as he came. Kurt followed shortly after, from seeing the look of ecstasy on Blaine’s face.

Kurt couldn’t help but collapse on top of Blaine after they were both completely spent and trying to catch their breath, with nothing but the sound of the rain beating against the car around them.

Kurt didn’t know how to approach the subject of what they just did, or what to say first, but Blaine eased his worry when he spoke first.

“Wow,”

Kurt lifted his head to look at Blaine, “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Kurt smiled and leaned up to kiss Blaine sweetly.

~*~*~

A couple days later, Kurt and Blaine were sitting in the detention room at a table together. Puck was lazily strumming his guitar and everyone else was singing small snippets of songs together. Kurt and Blaine were sitting close to each other, with their hands laced between them.

When they had come into the detention room earlier, they had sat at the same table and began working separately. Blaine was reading a book he had assigned for one of his classes while Kurt sat sketching something into a notebook. While Blaine was reading he felt Kurt gingerly reach out and take his hand to twine their fingers together. Blaine only smiled and squeezed Kurt’s hand back without looking up from his book.

After they had been sitting like that for about ten minutes, Blaine finally looked up to see Kurt still concentrating on whatever he was sketching.

“What are you working on?” Blaine asked as he closed his book and scooted closer to Kurt’s side.

He peered over to Kurt’s notebook, and saw what looked to be a design for a very handsome suit.

“Oh my gosh, Kurt. Did you design that?”

Kurt simply nodded his head.

“Wow, that’s amazing! Do you have others? Can I see more?”

“Whoa, Blaine, calm down.” Kurt laughed at the sight of Blaine becoming more and more like an excited puppy. He started flipping through some other designs, and Blaine was transfixed by Kurt’s work.

“These are fantastic, Kurt. Is this what you want to do?” Blaine said has he continued observing the drawings.

Kurt nodded again, “Yeah, I want to go to New York. I figure maybe I could get an internship out there or something. I just want to get out of this hell hole, you know?”

Blaine met Kurt’s eyes, “Yeah, I do know. And don’t worry Kurt. With a talent like yours, any place would be lucky to have you. These really _are_ amazing Kurt.”

Kurt blushed and said, “Thank you,” while he squeezed Blaine’s hand a little.

Blaine gave him a beaming smile. “No problem,” he said as he leaned forward and gave Kurt a small kiss on the cheek, which caused Kurt to blush even harder. It amazed Blaine how different and relaxed Kurt was when there were no other people from school around.

“Now, I was wondering,” Blaine said when he pulled back, “will you sing with me?”

Kurt looked surprised, “Really?”

“Yes,” Blaine replied, “Ever since I heard you sing for the first time, I have really wanted to sing with you. Please?”

Kurt smiled at him, “Yes, of course.”

Blaine stood up and tugged Kurt with him toward the front of the room.

Blaine asked Puck to borrow his guitar, and then whispered the song into Kurt’s ear to make sure he knew it. Kurt nodded in agreement and Blaine sat on one of the desks to get ready to play. Kurt sat close beside him, and everyone else in the room turned their attention to the pair to watch the performance.

Blaine began strumming the opening notes, and then started to sing the first verse.

_“He’s been, waitin’ around for the weekend,_

_Figuring which club to sneak in,_

_With fancy drinks and fifty dollar cover charge._

_Lately its been a big hassle,_

_With Heineken and New Castle,_

_To make sure he’s fittin’ in and livin’ large, disreguard,_

_The lies that he will tell and what he’s probably like cause,_

_It’s not hard, his charm is gonna get him through the night,”_

Blaine hopped off the desk and danced around in front of Kurt a little while he sung the chorus. Kurt couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head in fondness.

_“Cause if he wanna rock he rocks,_

_If he wanna roll he rolls,_

_He can roll with the punches long as he feels like he’s in control and a,_

_If he wanna stay he stays,_

_If he wanna go he goes,_

_He doesn’t care how he gets there, long as he gets somewhere he knows,_

_Oh no, na na na na na_

_Na na na na na na na_

_Ah na na na na na_

_Na na na na na na na.”_

Blaine returned to his spot next to Kurt on the desk as he finished the chorus. Kurt bumped his shoulder as he started to sing the next verse.

_“See her, heavy makeup and cut t-shirt,_

_Every girl out wants to be her,_

_But they look the same already why adjust,_

_Readin the magazine secrets, forgetting the topical regrets,_

_Cause if she comes home all alone the night’s a bust, it’s a must,_

_The swivel in her hips and the look she gives its,_

_All her trust, if only in the morning she knew where she lived.”_

Kurt got up off the table as he began the chorus, dancing around the room and urging the other’s from their seats to dance along.

_“Cause if she wanna rock she rocks,_

_If she wanna roll she rolls,_

_She can roll with the punches long as she feels like she’s in control and a,_

_If she wanna stay she stays,_

_If she wanna go she goes,_

_She doesn’t care how she gets there, long as she gets somewhere she knows,_

_Oh no, na na na na na_

_Na na na na na na na_

_Ah na na na na na_

_Na na na na na na na.”_

Blaine left the desk to dance around with the others during the chorus, and he handed the guitar off to Puck to finish the rest of the song. Kurt and Blaine continued the song, singing and dancing together.

_“And in a wink, they’re on the brink,_

_From drink to drink, and at the bar, with cash to blow,_

_From shot to shot, it’s getting hot,_

_Advance the plot, see how far it’s gonna go,_

_It all depends, so ditch the friends and grab a cab,_

_Another chance at cheap romance,_

_Doesn’t count cause the room is spinnin,_

_Nothing to lose tonight they both are winning,”_

As they were singing they started to dance closer and closer until they were mere inches apart.

_“And they fall in love as they fall in bed, they sing,_

_“If they wanna rock they rock,_

_If they wanna roll they roll,_

_They can roll with the punches long as they feel like they’re in control and a,_

_If they wanna stay they stay,_

_If they wanna go they go,_

_They don’t care how they get there, long as they get somewhere they know,_

_Oh no, na na na na na_

_Na na na na na na na_

_Ah na na na na na_

_Na na na na na na na.”_

As they finished the song everyone applauded their performance, accompanied by a few wolf-whistles from Puck.

Blaine took Kurt’s hand and whispered a “Thank you” into his ear.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song used is "Rock and Roll" by Eric Hutchinson


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for fighting, but no serious injuries

Kurt was standing at their table, putting his things away. Blaine walked up to stand next to him and slowly started to run his fingers up and down Kurt’s arm. Everybody else had already left the detention room since it had ended a few minutes earlier. When Kurt looked up from his task to meet his eyes, Blaine leaned in to capture Kurt’s lips in a sweet kiss.

Kurt let out a small sound of surprise, but he moved his hand to cup the back of Blaine’s neck to pull him closer. Blaine traced Kurt’s bottom lip with his tongue, and Kurt gladly opened his mouth to grant Blaine access.

They kissed for a little while before Kurt pulled back with a soft smack and a delicate laugh, “We should probably go before they close the school.”

Blaine sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Blaine took Kurt’s hand as they walked out of the detention room and laced their fingers together. Kurt looked over at Blaine and blushed a little when he said, “You know, my dad is supposed to be out of town all week… Would you, maybe, like to come over?”

Blaine tugged Kurt to a stop in the hallway, “Kurt Hummel, are you inviting me over to your house just so you can get into my pants?” he asked in mock offense.

Kurt backed Blaine up against the nearest row of lockers and bracketed his hands on either side of Blaine’s head.

“And what if I am?” He asked as he leaned in close to Blaine to whisper in his ear. He started to plant light kisses down Blaine’s neck.

“Then I guess that would—unnghh—that would be okay,”

Kurt pulled back with a cocky grin on his face. “Good,” he said before planting an innocent kiss on Blaine’s lips. He left Blaine’s personal space and started sauntering down the hallway toward the exit of the school.

Blaine stayed frozen in his spot momentarily staring after Kurt in awe. But, after Kurt threw a playful smirk over his shoulder, Blaine raced down the hall after him and caught him around the waist. They both laughed together before continuing down the hallway.

~*~*~

However, their playful happiness didn’t last for long.

Once they exited the school, they were met with the sight of Karofsky standing outside with a group of three other guys. They were all standing there blocking Kurt and Blaine’s way to the parking lot. As soon as Kurt saw them he tugged on Blaine’s hand to move him to stand behind him.

“Evening, gentlemen,” Kurt said to the group.

“’Sup fairy,” Karofsky retorted back.

“What do you want?” There was a pseudo-kindness to Kurt’s voice, but Blaine could tell that he was just taunting the others. Blaine had seen the change take place almost instantly in Kurt’s demeanor. His posture was more rigid and stiff, but he held himself tall and unmoving. He had a serious expression on his face, eyes roaming from one jock to another. It was easy to tell that Kurt had shifted into his arrogant attitude in order to try and ward off the group in front of them.

Kurt’s hold on Blaine’s hand had tightened to a vice-like grip, and Blaine could tell that this confrontation wasn’t going to end well.

“Aww, don’t be like that Kurt, we only want to talk,” Karofsky said with a mocking tone in his voice.

“For some reason, I seriously doubt that,” Kurt’s tone was quickly becoming more defensive and harsh as the conversation continued.

“We just wanted to give a long overdue welcome to your new friend there,” Karofsky motioned to Blaine where he stood behind Kurt.

“No.” it came out as practically a growl.

“And that’s not all, Kurt. It seems that you have forgotten that we don’t really like you fucking faggots skipping all around our hallways and spreading your gay everywhere.”

“What’s the matter? Afraid you are catching it?”

“AND SO,” Karofsky said taking a threatening step forward, “It seems that we have to teach you a lesson too. And small fry over there gets two lessons.” Karofsky began beating his fist into his hand, and the other jocks slowly began to advance too.

“Blaine, run,” Kurt whispered to Blaine.

Blaine looked at him in a mixture of surprise and terror, “What?! No!”

“Blaine…”

“No! I’m not going to leave you!”

Kurt was backing up with Blaine with him, “Blaine. Get. Out. Of here. Now.”

“NO!”

Just then, one of the jocks lunged at Kurt, and Kurt punched him square in the jaw, and he stumbled back a few steps. That seemed to be the cue for the rest of them to join in. Karofsky went at Kurt next, and he was harder to fight off. While they were struggling, another jock was headed for Kurt, and Blaine quickly intervened and tried to keep him away.

He landed a good blow on the jock’s jaw that caused him to stumble a little bit, but another guy had come up from behind Blaine and seized one of his arms. The jock he had been fighting earlier quickly got up and captured his other arm as well. Just as Kurt had caused Karofsky to stumble back, he turned to see Blaine being out numbered.

“Get the fuck off of him,” Kurt gritted out at the other jocks. Just as he began to advance on the others, Karofsky recovered and pulled Kurt forcefully back and hit him with a solid punch, causing Kurt to fall to the ground.

“KURT!” Blaine yelled, lunging toward him, but he was still being held back by the other jocks.

“Get him out of here. Take him out to the side of the school,” Karofsky directed to the others.

Hearing that, Kurt quickly regained his footing and tried to run to Blaine to help him, but Karofsky held him back.

“No, NO! Blaine!”

“Kurt!”

As the other jocks dragged Blaine off to somewhere on the other side of the school, Karofsky flung Kurt back hard against the wall of the school and blocked his way.

The breath had been knocked out of Kurt’s lungs when Karofsky had thrown him against the wall. As he tried to regain his breath Karofsky crowded up against him, leaning in close.

“Come on Kurt, I thought you knew better than that.”

Kurt’s breathing was still coming out short, but now it was more from the slowly increasing panic. Flashes of the previous year began to come back to him as Karofsky slowly ran his hand down Kurt’s chest.

“You know you can’t just parade around with your little boy-toy and not expect some repercussions.”

“Get off,” there was a slight tremor in Kurt’s voice.

“Nuh-uh,” Karofsky pushed him back against the wall as Kurt tried to move away, “I’m not done with you yet. I still have to teach you a lesson. And when I’m through with you, I’ll go take care of that little fuck toy of yours,”

Kurt felt the rage welling up inside of him at Karofsky’s words. His anger greatly outweighed his fear, and he quickly grabbed Karofsky’s shoulders and brought his knee up hard in between Karofsky’s legs.

Karofsky doubled over on the ground. Kurt stood over him, glaring at him in disgust.

Eventually, he slowly started to get up, and Kurt waited until he was at least half standing up.

“Fuck you, Karofsky,” Kurt spat at him, and he punched him hard across the face, causing him to fall to the ground again. “Stay away from my boyfriend.”

~*~*~

Blaine was struggling as hard as he could to break free from the jocks that were pulling him away so that he could get back to Kurt.

Kurt still had not given him any details about what had happened at the beginning of his junior year, but Blaine knew that the bullying had gotten really bad, and that Karofsky had been his biggest tormentor.

Blaine knew that it was an extremely bad idea for Karofsky to be alone with Kurt, and Blaine had to get back to him.

He was out numbered though, and even though he was trying as hard as he could, he could not get free.

The jocks rounded to the other side of the building, and the two jocks held him up so that he was facing the other one.

“Let me go, you assholes,” Blaine spat at them.

The jock moved forward punched Blaine in the stomach, causing him to double over, but he was still being held up by the other two jocks. The other jock landed two more blows, each time knocking the breath out of Blaine before he got a chance to fully recover.

Just when Blaine expected another hit to come, he was met with a shout instead, and he looked up to see the jock being wheeled around by Kurt who punched him and knocked him to the ground.

One of the jocks holding Blaine’s arms let go to go after Kurt, and as soon as he let go, Blaine started to try to fight off the other guy holding onto his arm. The guy quickly realized what Blaine was doing, and unfortunately was one step ahead of him. He grabbed Blaine by his shirt and slammed him up against the nearest wall.

Blaine let out a small cry of pain as his back hit the hard wall and the bricks scrapped up his arms.

“Shit, Blaine!” Kurt yelled. Blaine looked up to see Kurt turned to him with a look of concern on his face. Noticing that Kurt was distracted, the jock he had been fighting took the opportunity to knee him in the stomach, bringing him to the ground.

“Kurt!” Blaine tried to break away from the guy holding him, but he was roughly shoved back against the wall. “Leave us alone, you bastards!” Blaine yelled back at his tormentors.

“Why, you little shit,” The guy holding him wound his fist back getting ready to punch him, when all of the sudden he was pulled away from Blaine and slammed up against the wall next to him with a great deal of force.

“Now, that’s not very nice,”

“Puck,” Blaine breathed out in a relived voice.

“I’d get out of here if I were you,” Puck said as he took down the guy he had been holding against the wall and threw him toward the other two jocks.

“Fuck off, Puckerman,” one of the jocks said, “We aren’t scared of you.”

Puck strolled over to them, “No, but Johnson is still lurking around the school, and I don’t think he would be very happy with all of this.”

One of the jocks hit the other on the shoulder, “Come on, let’s just get out of here,” they all reluctantly turned and started to leave. One of them threw back, “Yeah, wouldn’t want to end up in juvie like some of the other trash here,” and Puck just flipped them off.

While the exchange had been going on between Puck and the jocks, Blaine had turned his attention to Kurt who was still doubled over on the ground clutching his stomach.

“Kurt? Kurt, are you okay? What’s wrong? What can I do?” Blaine was starting to panic a little bit that something was actually _really_ wrong and was about to call Puck over before Kurt put his hand on Blaine’s arm.

“Blaine, calm down. I just have to catch my breath…” He sat back on the ground, facing Blaine now, “He hit me pretty hard,”

Blaine was still slightly panicking, “Kurt, are you sure you are okay? Are you sure you are not hurt anywhere? Do we need to go to the hospital or something?” Blaine was running his hands all over Kurt, trying to check for any major injuries or anything that looked serious. As far as Blaine could tell, nothing seemed to be broken. He could recognize that Kurt was going to have some nasty bruises for a while where he had been punched, but ice could help the swelling go down quickly. He looked up at Kurt’s face and saw another injury. There was a cut running along his cheek that looked deeper than just a common scrape.

“Oh god, Kurt,” Blaine was instinctively reaching forward to stroke his cheek, but thought better of it because of the cut. “Maybe the nurse is still here or we can go to the hospital or—“

“Blaine. Blaine, Blaine!” Kurt cut him off as he began to ramble and panic again. “Blaine, it’s no big deal, it’s just a cut. I think I’m gonna live,” Kurt reached out to stroke Blaine’s arm to try and calm him.

Blaine was just looking at him for a few minutes before his face fell and he threw his arms around Kurt’s neck hugging him tightly, almost knocking the breath out of him again. Kurt just wrapped his arms around him securely, glad that he was safe and near again.

“Oh god, Kurt. I was so scared. Mainly for you. You were alone with Karofsky, and I didn’t know how I was going to get back to you. He could have hurt you really bad, and I just—“ He pulled back to look at Kurt for a moment before he surged forward and kissed him earnestly.

Kurt accepted the kiss at first, but then he flinched when the pressing made his cheek give a painful twinge. Blaine quickly pulled back, “Oh, Kurt, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you! Are you sure you’re okay? Are you—“

“Blaine!” Kurt had to cut him off again. “You have got to calm down. I'm fine I promise.”

“Just fine?”

Kurt sighed, “We should leave. I think I have some things I need to explain.”

Blaine nodded and said, “Okay” before helping Kurt up.

Puck had been watching the two, to make sure that they were going to be okay.

“Thanks, Puck,” Kurt said when he noticed him still standing there.

“No problem dude,” He walked over and gave Kurt a fist bump, “those douche bags need to be taught a lesson every now and then. Too bad Quinn wasn’t here, she would have really kicked some ass,”

Kurt laughed a little, “Yeah, probably,”

Puck turned to Blaine, “You gonna be alright, little man?”

Blaine gave a small nod and then said, “I’m not _that_ short.” Puck laughed.

“Thanks for helping,” Blaine said.

“Anytime,” Puck replied. Kurt and Blaine began making their way toward Blaine’s car. There was no way that Blaine was going to let Kurt ride his motorcycle in the condition he was in, no matter how fine Kurt claimed to be.

~*~*~

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for mention of over-the-clothes non-con, and more (poorly written) sexytimes.

The drive to Kurt’s house was mostly silent, save for the few directions that Kurt had to give Blaine to direct him toward his house. The rest of the time, Kurt stayed silent, staring out the window. Blaine thought about asking him about it, but Kurt had said that he was going to explain things, so Blaine decided to let Kurt start talking on his own terms.

When they got to Kurt’s house, Kurt led Blaine upstairs to his room. After they entered, Kurt turned to Blaine.

“Yeah, well… This is it,” he said gesturing to the surroundings. Blaine enjoyed looking around Kurt’s room, seeing all of the pictures and little things that decorated the space. It seemed to suit him very well.

However, Blaine’s attention was quickly brought back to Kurt when he ran a hand through his hair nervously, and when he brought his hand back down he brushed against his cheek and he winced. Blaine was quickly at his side, moving to inspect the cut as he took Kurt’s hand. Kurt grimaced again when Blaine took his hand. Blaine looked down at Kurt’s hand to see his knuckles had started to bruise pretty badly.

“Sorry,” Blaine said trying to brush his knuckles as gently as possible, “do you have a first aid kit?”

Kurt nodded without meeting Blaine’s eyes, just looking down at their hands, “it’s under the kitchen sink downstairs.”

Blaine gave a final brush to Kurt’s hand before saying, “be right back,” and leaning up to kiss Kurt on his uninjured cheek.

When Blaine came back into the room a few minutes later, carrying the small first aid kit, he saw Kurt standing by his window, staring outside, with his arms wrapped securely around himself.

Blaine placed the kit on the bed and walked over to Kurt, covering Kurt’s arms with his own, wrapping himself around Kurt from behind. He placed a soft kiss on the back of Kurt’s neck, and he heard Kurt let out a shaky breath.

“Kurt? Are you alright?”

It was then that Blaine realized that Kurt was trembling in his arms. Blaine started to get really worried.

He turned Kurt around, and started to lead him over to the bed, “Come ‘ere, baby.”

Blaine sat them both down on Kurt’s bed, and he opened the first aid kit to begin tending to Kurt’s injuries. He worked on the cut on Kurt’s cheek first, cleaning it the best he could and putting some cream on it that would help the scar heal. After he placed a bandage over the cut, Kurt had seemed to have calmed down somewhat. Blaine rubbed his hands over Kurt’s arms to try and sooth him some more. He then turned his attention to Kurt’s knuckles, giving them the same treatment, cleaning them, putting on something to help with the bruising, and then wrapping some bandages around them.

When he was done, Blaine found himself just looking at Kurt’s hands and stroking his knuckles soothingly. He wanted to talk to Kurt about what had happened, about what had happened in his past, about what went on when he was on the other side of the school with Karofsky. But he wanted Kurt to start. He didn’t want to push Kurt into something he wasn’t ready to talk about. He would wait for when Kurt was willing to talk about it, and he would be there to listen.

They had both been sitting there for about ten minutes, Blaine just petting Kurt’s hands and both of them staring down at their intertwined fingers, before Kurt finally said something.

“I’m so sorry, Blaine,” he let out in a breath.

Blaine shook his head, “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be in any of this mess.”

“I’d rather face all of the jocks at McKinley than not be with you,” Blaine said at last looking up to meet Kurt’s tear-filled eyes.

Hearing those words, Kurt finally broke.

He dropped his head onto Blaine’s shoulder and let his sobs overtake him as Blaine wrapped his arms securely around his back.

Kurt cried into Blaine’s shirt for a while, as Blaine rubbed soothing circles over his back trying to comfort him, and trying to wordlessly communicate that he wasn’t going to leave.

After Kurt’s crying had settled into small sniffs every now and then, Kurt sat back up to look at Blaine.

“I’m sorry…” he said giving a small sniffle again.

Blaine smiled a little, “Kurt, you have to stop apologizing when you’ve done nothing wrong,” he said as he brushed a small strand of hair out of Kurt’s face.

“Blaine, I think I owe you an explanation.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“No, you deserve to know what happened…everything that happened.”

Blaine could only nod, just letting Kurt do whatever he wanted. “Okay,” He said as he took Kurt’s hand in his own again.

But, just as soon as he had taken Kurt’s hand in his, those hands were slipping away and space was being made between them. Kurt had made about a foot of space between them, and he was no longer facing Blaine directly. He had moved so that only his right side was facing Blaine.

“Kurt, what—“

“I just have to be able to get through this, and I don’t know if I will be able to if you are that close.”

_I’ll be too afraid of letting you go._

“Kurt, you don’t have to tell me this if you don’t want to.”

“No, I—I want you to know.”

_I need you to know._

Kurt had said very few words since they had left the school earlier, but once he had started talking, he couldn’t seem to stop.

“I told you before that I was bullied my sophomore year, with locker checks, dumpster tosses, and slushies. It was all manageable. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was manageable. I had made it through the year with minimal damage. But junior year came around, and everything got worse.

“The year started out the same as the year before, but very quickly, the bullying started to escalate, becoming more frequent, and more violent.”

Kurt turned so that his back was facing Blaine, and he lifted up the back of his shirt. Blaine gasped as he saw some faded scars scattered across Kurt’s back that he could tell must have been really bad at one point.

“Kurt…” as he reached forward to brush his fingers along one of the scars, Kurt let his shirt fall back down and he returned to his previous position.

“Sometimes the locker tosses were so frequent and forceful that the locks on the lockers would leave deep bruises that still haven’t faded completely.

“Throughout the whole thing, the one person that seemed to be the main instigator of the escalating of the bullying was Karofsky.”

Blaine could see that Kurt had started to slightly shake again, and he wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort him. But he didn’t want to scare Kurt off, and he didn’t want to upset him further. He respected the space that Kurt had made.

“It all came to a head one night at a party. Mercedes had been invited by a football player that had a crush on her, and she insisted that I come along with her. I wasn’t thinking, and I went.”

_~*~*~_

_Kurt wandered around the strange house trying to find a quiet place or at least a place that wasn’t completely packed with people. Mercedes had abandoned him a few minutes ago to dance with the guy that had invited her, and now, all he wanted was to get out of this damned house._

_He finally made it to the kitchen where there were fewer people, but all he wanted to do was leave. It was a mistake coming in the first place. He figured he could at least sit outside until Mercedes found him to leave, so he headed in the direction that he figured there might be a back door._

_He was walking down a dark empty hallway that he thought would lead to the back of the house when a hand closed over his arm and pulled him into a nearby closet._

_He tried to scream at first, but a hand was covering his mouth and a large figure was looming over him. The closet was dark, so he couldn’t tell who it was, but they were just standing over him, one hand covering his mouth, and the other closed around his wrist, pinning him to the wall._

_After a few moments of eerie silence, be started to struggle against the hold, trying to get away._

_“Ah, ah, ah, Hummel,” the figure said as the grip on him tightened, and Kurt froze. He recognized that voice. He knew it from hearing it yell names at him in the hallways, but he knew it._

_David Karofsky._

_“You are not going to get away that easy.”_

_Kurt’s heart beat rate was skyrocketing, he was so scared of what Karofsky might do to him._

_As if reading Kurt’s mind, Karofsky spoke again. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to beat you up or anything.”_

_He began to lean in closer to Kurt, “I only came here for one thing.”_

_Suddenly, the hand over his mouth had disappeared, but in its place appeared a mouth, and a demanding tongue that was forcing its way between Kurt’s lips._

_Kurt began struggling even more, but both of Karofsky’s hands were now holding his wrists on the side of his head, and Karofsky’s thigh was pressed between his legs, pinning his body to the wall._

_Karofsky reached a hand down and cupped Kurt through his jeans and he let out a muffled scream as he bit down hard on Karofsky’s tongue that was still invading his mouth. Karofsky quickly pulled back with a grunt of pain, and then chided Kurt. “No, no. None of that,” and then he hit Kurt hard in the stomach, punching the breath out of him._

_He would have doubled over, but Karofsky held him up, his hand covering his mouth again as he ripped Kurt’s shirt open with his other hand. Kurt tried to let out another cry for help, but it was dampened by the hand covering his mouth._

_Karofsky began running his hand all over Kurt’s chest as he started to thrust his hips against Kurt’s thigh._

_Kurt realized that Karofsky wasn’t holding either of his hands, so he began trying to push him away. But, no matter how hard he tried, Karofsky was much stronger, and wouldn’t move an inch._

_Karofsky’s hips stuttered, and Kurt heard him let out a groan. As he fell forward with his release, Karofsky’s hand moved away from Kurt’s mouth, and Kurt took the opportunity to try and call for help._

_“Help me! Please! Help m—ah!”_

_Karofsky had grabbed the back of his hair and pulled his head back, silencing him._

_“Not a good idea,” he said menacingly before he punched Kurt in the stomach again. This time, he fell to the ground, and Karofsky swiftly kicked him in his side. He kicked him a few more times, before he stopped, and was just looming over him again. Kurt coughed and wheezed, trying to get his breath, when Karofsky bent down and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall._

_Kurt was still shaking with fear when Karofsky leaned in close and said, “If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you.”_

_Kurt did his best to move away from him, but Karofsky grabbed his face and turned his head to look directly in his eyes, to show him that he was serious._

_Eventually, Karofsky released his hold on him and left the little dark room._

_Kurt collapsed on the floor, with tears streaming down his face. He curled in on himself, feeling dirty, violated, worthless, and terrified._

_~*~*~_

“After that night, Karofsky would sometimes catch me in the hallways, and would pull me into the locker rooms or behind the school, and he would just stand over me, terrifying me. Sometimes he would kiss me again, or he would kiss my neck or forehead. Sometimes he would just touch me and run his hands all over me, but _every time_ he would make me feel horrible and violated all over again. I could never call for help or anything because he would always hit me or cover my mouth so I couldn’t yell, so nobody ever came to help. And afterwards, he would always threaten to kill me if I ever told anyone. You and Quinn are the only ones I have ever told.” Kurt looked up for a moment to meet Blaine’s gaze, but then he quickly averted his eyes to stare at his lap again as he continued on.

“The bullying was still just as violent too. He shoved me harder and more frequently which started to leave permanent marks, and he threw more slushies than I can even count. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore, and went to Quinn and asked to join the Skanks. I told her the whole story, and she helped me build up this new image. In time Karofsky started to back off and leave me alone… I guess the presence of the Skanks made it harder for him to get to me. But I was still so scared, all the time. I was scared that he was going to come after me again, and he was going to do so much worse than he did the first time, and I’m _still_ scared and I just… I just felt useless…”

Kurt was crying into his hands as he finished his story. He wiped away a little at his face before turning to Blaine. “I understand if you don’t want to be around me anymore, since you know now that I’m damaged and used, and—“

“Kurt, no. Absolutely not.” Blaine scooted over and grasped Kurt’s shoulders, unable to keep from touching him anymore, and turning Kurt to face him square on. “I could never see you that way. I can only see you as the gorgeous, amazing person that I have always known you are. You are not broken or disgusting or any of those things you think. _He_ is disgusting for the things he did to you. You are not anywhere near him. Kurt, I don’t care what has been done to you, you still are and always will be _beautiful_ ,”

Kurt could only stare at him for a few moments, searching his eyes, before he launched himself at Blaine, pressing his lips firmly against Blaine’s for a few moments before he buried his face in Blaine’s shirt as his sobs overcame him again.

“Please stay. Please don’t go,” Kurt pleaded, clutching at Blaine’s shirt.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Blaine said brushing his fingers through Kurt’s hair, “I’m not going anywhere until you order me away.”

“I—” _I love you._

Kurt almost said it. He almost said those three little words, but he didn’t want to say them now. Not like this. Not when he was a teary, pitiful mess. He wanted to be able to look Blaine in the eye and say it with as much conviction as he felt about it. He would wait.

He leaned away to look at Blaine. He then noticed the giant wet spot covering Blaine’s shoulder and part of the front of his shirt.

Kurt sniffed and let out a small tearful laugh, “Look at your shirt,” he said brushing his hand over the spot, as if trying to wipe it away.

Blaine laughed too when he noticed it. He covered Kurt’s hand with his own, “I think it’ll live.”

After looking into each other’s eyes for a few moments, Blaine leaned in and gave Kurt a gentle kiss. He then adjusted his position and laid down on the bed, pulling Kurt to him. He wrapped him up in his arms as Kurt laid his head on his chest and wound his arms around Blaine’s waist.

Blaine brushed his hands though Kurt’s hair in gentle motions until he felt Kurt’s breathing even out, and he couldn’t keep his own eyes open any longer, and he slipped into sleep.

~*~*~

The next morning, Blaine woke up slowly, blinking the sunlight streaming in through the windows out of his eyes. Only when he moved his arm up to try and block out the light did he remember that there was somebody next to him. A very asleep, gorgeous somebody.

They had shifted a little in their sleep, and Kurt was now lying on his stomach next to him, but his arm was still flung around Blaine’s waist, and one of his legs draped across Blaine’s.

Blaine couldn’t help but smile when he saw him, and he reached over to gently run his fingers through Kurt’s tousled hair. Kurt stirred a little bit, but didn’t wake, and he nestled further into the pillow.

Blaine stayed for a few minutes, stroking Kurt’s hair, before he got an idea. He gently eased himself out of the bed, and out of Kurt’s grasp, to which Kurt let out a small whimper.

Blaine leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, which seemed to relax him, and then he made his way down stairs toward the kitchen.

Once there, he began rummaging around to try and find something to make for breakfast. He decided to make some pancakes, since they were fairly simple.

He had made the batter and had made the first round of pancakes, and was pouring the second when he heard a small voice behind him.

“Blaine?”

He turned to see a sleep disheveled Kurt standing in the doorway to the kitchen, and he smiled.

“I—I thought you had gone home, or something,” Kurt said, seeming to be truly puzzled as to why Blaine was standing in his kitchen.

“Oh,” Blaine said looking at the pancakes and then back at Kurt, “I can leave, if you want,”

“No!” Kurt said hurriedly, “No, I’m… I’m glad you stayed,”

Blaine made his way over to him, and wrapped him up in a hug that he felt Kurt relax into. After holding him for a few minutes, Blaine pulled back and gave Kurt a gentle kiss. When it was over, he looked at Kurt and smiled.

“Good morning.”

Kurt giggled, and replied with another, “Good morning.”

Blaine gave him a small peck on the lips before he said, “Breakfast is almost ready,” and he made his way back over to the stove.

“You made breakfast?” Kurt asked as he went to Blaine’s side. Blaine simply nodded as he flipped some of the pancakes.

“It smells great, can I do anything to help?”

“Do you want anything else with your pancakes?”

“I’ll cut up some fruit.”

They worked in a comfortable silence for a while until Blaine had a hefty plate of pancakes and Kurt had a large bowl of fruit.

They each filled a plate with pancakes and fruit and sat at the table to eat. Their comfortable silence continued as they ate, and was continual until they were almost finished with their meal.

“Kurt, can we talk about what happened last night?” Blaine interrupted the silence, and he could see Kurt tense with the subject matter. He quickly backtracked.

“No, no, Kurt, it meant a lot to me that you trusted me enough to tell me all of that, because it was a big deal. I was just wondering… how come you waited so long to tell me? It seems like if Karofsky hadn’t cornered us yesterday, you might have never said anything. I’m not mad, not at all, I was just curious, I guess. Why tell me now?” Blaine finished and looked up into Kurt’s searching eyes for a few moments before Kurt averted his gaze, fiddling with his fork on the table.

“Well that’s just it, isn’t it? There was a reason why they… why _he_ cornered us yesterday. And it was because of me. He has a big target on my back, and he feels like he can try and ruin my life whenever he gets the chance. If it wasn’t for me, they probably would have never bothered you. I just don’t want you getting mixed up in all of this mess that follows me around. I guess I needed you to know, in case you don’t want to deal with all of it. Which I understand…if you don’t want to.”

Blaine quickly scooted his chair over to be right in front of Kurt’s and he pried Kurt’s fidgeting hand away from his fork to grasp it in his own, giving it comforting squeezes.

“Kurt, I told you, I’m not going anywhere. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You mean too much to me. So, you have a past, who doesn’t? That does not define who you are now or make you any less of a person, okay?”

Kurt could feel the tears slowly start to prick in his eyes, but he held his tears back, he had cried enough already. He let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, and he brought his other hand up to stroke along Blaine’s cheek, as if to make sure that he was real, and not just some perfect figure of his imagination.

Blaine brought up Kurt’s hand he was still holding to his lips to place a gentle kiss on it.

“Come on,” he said pulling Kurt up from the kitchen chair, “how about we watch a movie?”

Kurt only nodded as they walked toward the living room.

~*~*~

Once they were there, Blaine spotted a movie case on the other side of the room and he headed toward it to help Kurt pick out a movie. But before he could make it very far, he felt Kurt grab his hand and pull him back. When he turned around, Kurt cupped his face and pulled him in for a deep kiss. Blaine couldn’t help but moan a little into the kiss and he wrapped his hands around Kurt’s waist. It started out slow and heady, with lazy tongues and long drawn out kisses.

But soon it started to become more desperate, and Kurt started walking them back toward the couch. Kurt sat down and pulled Blaine to him, causing Blaine to sit on top of him, straddling his legs.

“Is this okay?” Blaine asked as he started sucking small kisses up and down Kurt’s neck.

“So okay,” Kurt breathed out.

Blaine moved back up to attach their lips and he willingly accepted the tongue that thrust into his mouth.

He weaved his fingers through Kurt’s hair at the back of his neck, and he felt Kurt rubbing his hands along his lower back.

They broke apart when they both needed air, and Blaine went back to his previous task of sucking small kisses along Kurt’s neck. He nipped at the spot under Kurt’s ear where his jaw ended, and Kurt whimpered and his hips gave a small thrust upward.

Blaine started kissing and sucking his way down Kurt’s neck until he reached the collar of his shirt, and he started tugging at it so he could continue his path.

“Can I—“ Blaine started to ask, but a quickly cut off by Kurt.

“Anything,” he said desperately.

Blaine popped the first button of Kurt’s shirt. “Okay?”

“Yes,” Kurt breathed out.

Blaine continued his slow trail of kisses and nips down Kurt’s chest, unbuttoning each button as he got to it. Eventually, Kurt’s shirt was hanging open at his sides and Blaine had practically slipped off the couch.

He was busy trailing his fingers along the waistband of Kurt’s pants when he looked back up to see Kurt with his head tilted back and his eyes closed with a blissful look on his face. He slowly leaned back up and planted a sweet kiss on his lips.

“If you want me to stop, tell me to stop, and I will,”

Kurt only nodded before Blaine slipped off the couch again to kneel between Kurt’s legs. He continued to move his fingers along the edge of Kurt’s waistband almost soothingly. He started to slowly tug Kurt’s pants down to reveal his boxer briefs.

Kurt was starting to breathe heavier as Blaine ran his hands up and down Kurt’s thighs and kissed and sucked along the elastic around his hips.

“Blaine,” Kurt panted out, “please, do _something_.”

Blaine pulled Kurt’s underwear down and wrapped his hand around his cock. Kurt dropped his head back onto the back of the couch with a moan as Blaine started sucking a hickey onto his hipbone.

Blaine started moving his hand up and down and twisting his wrist around him. Kurt was squirming under him and Kurt threaded his fingers through Blaine’s curls as he continued to nip at his hip.

Blaine ran his lips over the purple mark one more time before he moved up to cover Kurt’s mouth with his own. Kurt moaned again and his hips bucked up into Blaine’s hand.

Kurt broke away from the kiss to gasp for breath before he huffed out, “Oh, Blaine, I’m so close. Just – ungh _fuck_ – tighter.”

Blaine knelt back down as he tightened his grip and sped up his pace. He kissed the sensitive spot on the inside of Kurt’s thigh where it met with his hip. Kurt came with a shout, and Blaine stroked him through it.

After he had caught his breath a little bit, Kurt noticed that Blaine was still kneeling on the floor, just smiling up at him.

“Get up here,” he said as he tugged Blaine off the floor and then pushed him down onto the couch and hovered over him. “Your turn.”

“Kurt, it’s fine, you really don’t have to do anything if you don’t want t—unghh.”

Kurt had quickly pushed his hand inside Blaine’s pants under is boxer briefs, and grasped his still hard cock. Blaine began panting as Kurt started moving his hand up and down.

Kurt pushed up Blaine’s shirt and ran his other hand over his chest before he leaned in and attached his mouth to one of Blaine’s nipples. Blaine cried out and was writhing under him as Kurt sucked and bit at the nub. He moved to the other side as Blaine panted out, “I’m not gonna last, Kurt…oh, don’t stop.”

Kurt started moving his hand faster, and soon enough Blaine was coming over his fist onto both of their chests.

Kurt collapsed next to Blaine on the couch as they tried to catch their breath.

After a while Blaine mumbled, “Shit…”

Kurt grinned a little and looked up at Blaine, “So much for watching a movie.”

Blaine couldn’t help but burst into laughter that was contagious enough to soon cause Kurt to laugh along with him.

After they had cleaned up they resumed their spot on the couch and actually watched a movie, cuddling into each other the whole time.


	10. Chapter 10

When Blaine went home later that evening, he expected to come home to an empty house, since his parents were probably working.

How wrong he was.

“Squirt!”

Blaine was immediately scooped up into his energetic brother’s arms.

“Cooper?! What are you doing here?” Blaine asked shoving his brother good-naturedly.

“What? I can’t come visit purely in the interest of seeing my baby brother?”

Blaine eyed him skeptically.

“Alright fine, I’m going to a casting call nearby in a few days, but that’s not what’s important right now! What _is_ important is spending time with my favorite brother,” Cooper said ruffling Blaine’s hair.

“Cooper, I’m your _only_ brother,” Blaine replied while swatting his brother’s hand away.

“Details, details. Now come on, tell me all about your new school. I hear you have a love life now,” Cooper said with a suggestive wave of his eyebrows.

“Mom!” Blaine yelled into the house.

“Sorry, honey! I couldn’t resist!” she yelled back from somewhere in the house.

~*~*~

Blaine spent the rest of the day telling Cooper all about his new school and about Kurt.

“And he’s smart and funny and handsome and creative, oh man Cooper, you should see the designs he makes! He wants to go into fashion and he is so talented! He also sings like an angel and he has the most beautiful eyes and—“

“Okay, Blaine, I get it. He’s super gorgeous and talented, but is he taking care of you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know,” Cooper made an obscene gesture with his hand, “ _taking_ _care_ of you?”

“Cooper!” Blaine practically shoved his brother off the couch as he tried not to blush so hard.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! You know what I mean, is he good to you? Does he treat you right?”

Blaine looked at his brother confused, “Of course he does,”

“Hey, don’t look at me like it is such a ridiculous question. I’m just looking out for my baby bro.”

Blaine began thinking about all of the things that Kurt had done for him in the short time that they had known each other, and a warm feeling spread through his chest just thinking about him.

“Cooper, he is amazing. He has done so much for me. He listens to me, and I listen to him. We can talk to each other for hours on end, and never run out of things to talk about. We have so much in common, and we just _get_ each other. I really care about him, and I know he cares about me too. He sticks up for me and defends me and-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. He sticks up for you? He defends you? Why does he have to do that in the first place?!”

Blaine didn’t want Cooper yelling to the whole house about the situation at school, “Cooper, calm down.”

“Like hell I will! Have you been getting at fights again?”

Blaine was quiet for a moment. “Well…”

“Blaine!”

Blaine quickly shushed him, “Hush! It wasn’t our fault okay? These guys cornered us after school, and they started a fight. It was nothing though, don’t worry about it. Kurt won and took care of it.”

Cooper snorted, “No offense dude, but the way you described him earlier, he didn’t seem like the type that would want to get into fist fights… or could win one.”

“Wellll… Kurt is kind of, sort of, in a… gang,” Blaine mumbled the last word, hoping Cooper wouldn’t catch it and move on. He had no such luck.

“A gang?! What the fuck, Blaine?!”

“Calm down! It’s not that kind of gang!”

“Oh? It’s not? Pray tell, oh dear brother of mine, what kind of gang it is then? The kind that only stabs people on Tuesdays and Thursdays? Or is it only weekends?”

“Okay, maybe ‘gang’ wasn’t the best word to use… Look, Kurt has had, to put it plainly, a pretty shitty past with the bullies at school. There is this group of people at school that act all badass and intimidating, and as long as he hangs out with them and acts like them, the bullies leave him alone.”

Cooper leaned back and rolled his eyes, “Wow, sounds like a real charmer,” he said without even trying to hide his sarcasm.

“Cooper, stop it. It’s just an image he has to keep up at school. When he’s not at school he’s incredibly nice and sweet and caring, and-“

“Sounds like to me that this guy’s got multiple personalities or something,”

Blaine let out a sigh of frustration. “It’s not that. He… I told you, he has had to deal with a lot in the past, and he found a way to get away from all of that torture, so he took that chance. Believe me, you probably would have done the same thing too if you had to go through what he did.”

“Geez, what happened that was so bad to turn him into a juvenile delinquent?”

“He’s not a—!” Blaine cut himself off from yelling, getting a hold of himself again. Sometimes his brother could be incredibly irritating, but that didn’t mean he needed to yell. He sighed, “It’s not my story to tell. Just trust me when I say, it was really bad.”

Cooper just nodded then, after seeing the look of resignation on his brother’s face.

“Look, Cooper. I don’t really care what you say, you are not going to change my opinion of him.”

“And what opinion is that?” Cooper sat back up and poked Blaine in the side.

Blaine smiled and squirmed a little bit at the contact, but then he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “I love him.”

Cooper stared at him for a few moments, and when the silence was just about to turn awkward, and Blaine was about to start fidgeting, Cooper flung his arms around his brother and practically tackled him down onto the couch.

“Shit, Blainey! You’re in love! Fucking hell!” Cooper sat back up again with a wide grin and ruffled Blaine’s hair again. “My little bro is all grown up!” He said batting his eyelashes and wiping away a fake tear.

Blaine smiled and shook his head while mumbling something that sounded a lot like “asshole” under his breath.

They sat there for a few more moments before Cooper spoke again.

“So, you said the things that happened to him were pretty serious?”

Blaine nodded.

“Who has he told?”

Blaine though about it for a minute, “Well, I’m not sure, but…”

“Has he told any adults?” Cooper interrupted, getting right to the point.

“Probably not,”

“He should. Or you should,”

“No.” Blaine said firmly, “It’s not my story to tell, and he doesn’t like telling people about it. It brings up too many bad memories for him,”

“I understand that Blaine, but if this is still an ongoing thing, then someone else needs to know to help you guys out. What about his parents? Can’t he tell them?” Cooper asked, still prodding

“Parent,”

“What?”

“Kurt’s mom is… He just has his dad now.”

“Okay fine,” Cooper carried on, “Parent. Why can’t he tell him? Doesn’t he at least deserve to know? I’m sure he could help in some way?”

“Well, I guess… I guess I could suggest that to him…” Blaine was still hesitant to bring the subject up for any reason.

“I really think it would be in both of your best interests. For safety reasons,”

Blaine nodded in understanding while Cooper patted his shoulder in support.

“Especially since I’m not around to stick up for you myself,” Cooper said quickly regaining his obnoxious demeanor.

“Oh my god, Cooper, Shut up.” Blaine said shoving him again.

“Um, no. Also, I want to meet him.”

“What? Why?”

“I have to approve of him before I let my baby brother go gallivanting off into the world of sexual experiences with him,” Cooper said very nonchalantly.

“OH MY—Cooper _shut up_. Also, no.”

The refusal prompted Cooper into action, “What? Why not?”

“Because, you’ll scare him off with your inappropriate comments and nosiness.”

“Aww, come on. I’m not that bad. You love me regardless,”

Blaine eyed his brother warily, seriously considering whether he should have his head checked or not.

~*~*~

It was the Wednesday of that week when things started to fall apart.

Kurt was sitting under the bleachers behind the school with Quinn.

“Puck told me about the fight,” she eventually bought up.

Kurt sighed, “Figured he would. What do you want to know?”

“What happened afterwards?”

Kurt hadn’t expected her to ask that right away. He had expected her to ask at some point, but he thought he would relay the details of the fight before that. He guessed Quinn wasn’t messing around today.

He hesitated a moment before answering, “We went back to my house, and we talked.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Everything.”

“…Everything?”

“Yup,” it came out as almost a groan.

“Including the little ‘L’ word?”

“Well okay, not that. But everything else,”

She nodded, “How did it go? How did he react?”

Kurt shook his head, “Quinn, he’s too good for me.”

“No he’s not.” Quinn had turned to face him as soon as he said that and promptly reached over to grip his shoulder, forcing him to look at her.

“Dammit, Kurt, you listen to me right now. Blaine is a good guy, I’ll give you that, but that does _not_ mean that he is too good for you. I’ve seen the way you act around him. Kurt, nobody deserves to be happy more than you do. You’ve had your fair share of shit thrown at you and it’s about fucking time that you had something that actually makes you _happy_. And it’s certainly not one-sided. You make him just as happy too. He’s definitely worse at hiding it than you are. You are the fucking sun and moon to him. So don’t you _dare_ tell me that you are not good enough or whatever, because you are. You two are good for each other, and you two deserve each other. Okay?” She let go of Kurt’s arm and plopped back onto the ground.

Kurt couldn’t stop staring at her. He had never seen her speak that way to him with such conviction and care in her voice. He realized in that moment how good of a friend she was to him, and he couldn’t help but lean over and envelop her in a huge hug.

“Ay!” she squeaked out.

“Thank you. For everything,” he whispered against her shoulder.

She seemed to relax and let out a sigh before she wrapped her arms around him in return.

When they pulled apart she replied sweetly with, “Don’t mention it,” and then she tacked onto the end menacingly, “ever.”

Kurt laughed for a few moments before saying, “it’s almost time for detention. Are you coming?”

“Nah, I think I might head out early. I’ve had enough of this place for the day.”

“Okay. Well, see you tomorrow,” he waved to her as he started walking back toward the school.

Kurt had just turned the corner to go back toward the building when he felt someone pull him back and slam him up against the wall.

“Ow! What the hell—?” Kurt caught his bearings and looked up to see Karofsky standing in front of him. He was far enough away from Quinn now that she probably couldn’t hear them, and she had most likely left already anyway. They were also too far away from the entrance of the school for anyone to hear them from there either.

“What the fuck, Karofsky? Stay the hell away from me, unless you want me to kick your ass again.” Kurt started shove him off and Karofsky just pushed him back against the wall harder.

“You might not want to leave yet, Hummel. I have a very interesting proposition for you,” he said crossing his arms and sporting a grin that was quite unsettling to Kurt.

Kurt eyed him warily, “What do you mean?”

“Oh, I think you know perfectly well what I mean, Kurt.” Karofsky started to pace back and forth in front of him slowly, continuing on as if it was the most casual conversation in the world. There was fake concern in his voice, playing up what he was saying.

“You see, you can’t protect him forever. You can’t constantly be at his side. And some time, when you’re not around to protect him, something bad is _bound_ to happen.”

“You stay the fuck away from him.” Kurt’s fists were clenched at his side, and he was ready to pounce at any moment if he needed to.

“Oh, I will. But only if you take my proposition.” Karofsky stopped his pacing to face Kurt.

Kurt continued to look at him with caution and skepticism, “…what do you want?”

“It’s simple, all _you_ have to do,” Karofsky said as he walked over to him and poked him in the chest, “is breakup with him.”

Kurt started to panic, “Why – why should I do that?” he couldn’t help but stammer.

“Face it, Hummel. He was doing fine until you dragged him into your crappy little world. And now, you are making him deal with all of your shit, and as soon as he realizes what he has got himself into, he will drop you anyway. You’re too fucked up for a little dork like him. You are just ruining someone else’s life besides your own,” Karofsky walked over to him and Kurt backed up until he felt his back hit the wall. Karofsky put his hands on either side of him on the wall and leaned in closer.

“And besides, if you don’t breakup with him, I’m sure there will be _sometime_ during the day when you aren’t around. And when you’re not, I’ll find that little son of a bitch, and take him somewhere where no one will be able to hear him scream. And then I’ll take him for everything he is worth. I’m sure his tight little ass would feel so _good_.” Karofsky rolled his hips forward to emphasize his words. “I will take him, and there will be nothing. You. Can. Do. About it.” he punctuated each last word with a terrifying kiss to the side of Kurt’s neck.

“Or, you can dump the little fucker, and I’ll leave him alone. The choice is yours.”

Kurt let out a shaky breath, “Why do you keep doing this to me? Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because,” Karofsky said simply, “a little fairy faggot like you doesn’t deserve to be happy. Also, we both know who you _really_ belong with, and Anderson is just getting in the way of that. You have until Friday to do it.” Karofsky turned to leave, but before he walked too far, he turned back to Kurt.

“Oh, and by the way, if you tell anyone about this,”

“I know, Karofsky,” Kurt spat at him, “you’ve threatened my life enough over the past year, I think I get it by now.”

Karofsky let out a chuckle, “Oh no, Kurt. This time poor little Blaine will be the one to pay.”

And with that, Karofsky left.

Kurt stood there, numb for a few minutes before he slid down the wall and he curled in on himself. He was shaking and he couldn’t stop the tears that came to his eyes. He tried not to let Karofsky’s words affect him. He had just talked to Quinn and talked about how he _did_ deserve to be happy. He tried to remember her words and let them fill his mind as opposed to Karofsky’s harsh words. But one thing stuck out in his mind out of everything.

 _Blaine_.

Blaine _did_ deserve to be happy, more than anyone. He was sweet and kind and the most compassionate person that Kurt had ever met. Blaine deserved to be happy.

_“He was doing fine until you dragged him into your crappy little world. And now, you are making him deal with all of your shit.”_

_“You are just ruining someone else’s life besides your own.”_

Blaine didn’t deserve any of that. He shouldn’t have to deal with Kurt’s problems. They were Kurt’s to deal with, and nobody else’s. But he had already selfishly dragged Blaine into all of it. And now Blaine was going to pay the price.

He had sworn that he would protect Blaine, and he was going to fail, unless he did what Karofsky demanded. Kurt thought about ignoring Karofsky’s threat and continuing to protect Blaine himself, but Karofsky was right. He couldn’t be with him constantly, and there was bound to be a time when he wasn’t around. And then terrible things would happen to Blaine. And they would be all Kurt’s fault. Blaine didn’t deserve any of that.

Kurt angrily slammed his fist against the wall out of frustration at the situation. He was going to find a way out of this… He just didn’t know how.

~*~*~

Thursday after school found Kurt and Blaine driving to Blaine’s house to study. Kurt had been thinking all the previous night and the whole day about a way to get out of Karofsky’s threats, but he couldn’t come up with anything. He was starting to get very nervous about the whole thing, and he was starting to feel on edge. He was careful not to throw too many snappy comments out around people, and he had to resist the urge more than once to wrap his arm around Blaine’s waist possessively when a group of jocks walked by. He had to remember that Blaine couldn’t know about the threats, and if he started acting weird, then Blaine would definitely start to have questions. No, he would keep it together. For Blaine.

When Kurt walked into Blaine’s house he was met with a warm foyer and a grand staircase. The area was decorated tastefully, and Kurt had an appreciation for the décor placed around the room.

As they walked toward the stairs they heard someone call out from the kitchen, “Hey, honey!”

“Shit,” Blaine mumbled under his breath.

“What?” Kurt questioned.

“Well, I was hoping to just go up to my room without her noticing. You probably don’t want to meet my mom, do you?”

Kurt shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t mind,”

“Really?” Blaine seemed surprised by Kurt’s answer.

“Sure, why not?”

A wide grin spread across Blaine’s face and he took Kurt’s hand and lead him toward the kitchen.

When they entered the kitchen Blaine’s mom asked, “How was your day honey?” without looking up from the crossword she was working on.

“It was fine,” Blaine glanced over at Kurt, “Umm, Mom? Kurt’s here.”

His mom looked up when he said that, and she grinned at the sight of the two of them. Kurt was hit with a sudden sense of déjà vu, now knowing where Blaine got his smile.

“It’s nice to meet you Kurt,” she said as she shook his hand. “I’ve heard lots about you,”

Blaine groaned, “Mom…”

“What? It’s the truth,” she winked at Kurt. Blaine groaned again and hid his face in Kurt’s shoulder out of embarrassment.

Kurt laughed, “Thank you, Mrs. Anderson. You have a lovely home, by the way.”

“Oh, why thank you, Kurt. I never got any help from this one in decorating it,” she motioned to Blaine.

“I figured I would just mess something up if I were to help. I figured I would leave it to the professional,”

Mrs. Anderson rolled her eyes, “Yeah yeah, _whatever_ you say. So, are you boys hungry? I can fix you something, if you’d like,”

“No thanks, Mom. We are just going to go study in my room,” Blaine said tugging Kurt toward the exit of the kitchen.

“Alright alright, I’ll leave you alone. It was nice to meet you, Kurt,”

“It was nice to meet you too, Mrs. Anderson,” Kurt said before he was pulled out of the kitchen.

As they went up stairs Kurt said, “You’re mom seems nice,”

Blaine laughed, “Yeah, but as you saw, she likes to take any opportunity she can get to embarrass me.”

~*~*~

Kurt and Blaine were sitting together on Blaine’s bed studying when Blaine decided to bring up what he and Cooper had talked about.

“Hey, Kurt, can I ask you something?”

Kurt was a little cautious from the way Blaine sounded nervous, but he agreed anyway, “Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, umm,” Blaine was fidgeting with his pen he had been using. He didn’t know how Kurt would react to him bringing it all up again. “How many people have you told about what happened last year?”

Kurt did tense a little at the subject matter, but then he relaxed and focused to answer the question.

“You and Quinn are the only ones that know the whole story. Mercedes was at the party, but I was too shaken up to tell her what happened, and I didn’t really want to talk about it with her, so she knows that something bad happened at the party, but she doesn’t know specifically what it was. I’d imagine that Artie knows whatever Mercedes knows, she probably told him. Puck knows that Karofsky is bad news when it comes to me. Quinn told him at one point to help make sure that Karofsky stayed away from me, so that’s all he knows…”

Blaine nodded slowly after he had finished. “Okay, but… do any… _adults_ know?”

Kurt shook his head in response.

“Well, don’t you think you need to tell someone about this?”

“What would the point be, Blaine?”

“What about your dad? Don’t you think he deserves to know?”

“No, I can’t tell him about this,” Kurt was staring at the bedspread and not making eye contact with Blaine anymore. “I told you about how he had some heart problems during my sophomore year. I don’t want to stress him out any more than he already is. I don’t think that his heart could take it. I don’t want to hurt him, and if he found out this happened, it would hurt him.”

 _It would hurt him if he found out you kept this from him_. Blaine thought about saying, but he refrained. He didn’t want to upset Kurt more.

“Well, what about someone else? What about the teachers?” Blaine asked hesitantly instead.

“That wouldn’t help anything,” Kurt said still keeping his eyes away from Blaine.

Blaine was starting to get a little frustrated at this point at Kurt’s stubbornness. “Look, Kurt, if this is still an issue and he hasn’t stopped bothering you, someone _needs_ to know so that they can help,”

“How is that going to help anything?!” Kurt was angry now too, almost shouting. “The teachers at that damn school won’t do anything to help! It’s his word against mine anyway, and whose side do you think they are going to be on? One of their star football players or the gay kid that can be found in detention? Nobody gives a shit about me at that school and they are not going to help anyway, so why should I bring attention to the one thing that I want to just ignore and forget ever happened!?”

Blaine was just as mad as Kurt now too, and he couldn’t help but yell back. “Well _I do_ give a shit about you! And you think you can handle this on your own, but obviously you can’t if it is still going on! I don’t want to have to see that asshole threatening you in the hallways anymore when you deserve better than that!”

By the time they had both finished yelling they were breathing deeply, trying to calm down. They were both looking at the bedspread, avoiding eye contact with the other.

As he started to calm down, Blaine started to think about the things that they both had said. Kurt was right, he obviously knew the school better than Blaine did, and the teachers wouldn’t help. It wasn’t like Kurt hadn’t tried to fix things, but he had to find his own way to do it. Joining the Skanks was his way of fixing things.

Blaine sighed when he realized had been insensitive when he had accused Kurt of not taking care of things. He shouldn’t have even brought this up in the first place, at least not in the way he did. The last thing he wanted to do was fight with Kurt.

He gingerly reached over and took Kurt’s hand in his. When Kurt didn’t pull away, but still wouldn’t look at him, he started to rub his thumb along Kurt’s knuckles soothingly.

After he felt Kurt relax somewhat he broke the silence, “I’m sorry.”

Kurt did look back over at him then.

“I’m sorry I even brought this up in the first place. It’s not my place to tell you what to do, and I’m sure you know what you are doing in how you handle all of this. I just worry and I… I’m sorry,”

Kurt sighed as the last of his anger left him, and he moved across the space between them and cuddled against Blaine’s side. Blaine shifted to where he was leaning against the headboard and Kurt’s head was pillowed on his chest. He slowly stroked his fingers through Kurt’s hair while his other hand was still clasped Kurt’s hand.

Kurt didn’t really know what he was doing. He tried to pretend like he did, but he didn’t. That was evident by the fact that he couldn’t find a way to get out of losing the most precious thing to him.

~*~*~

When Kurt arrived at school on Friday he was a huge bundle of nerves, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He was still trying to come up with a way to get out of what he had to do, but he still could not think of anything.

When he opened his locker that morning, he found a note with sloppy handwriting had been shoved inside.

_“Don’t forget what has to happen today.”_

Kurt crumpled up the note in anger and slammed his locker shut before storming off to his first class.

The day seemed to pass in a daze, his thoughts preoccupied throughout the day. He skipped the classes he shared with Blaine, and he avoided the lunch room, hoping to steer clear of him for as long as possible.

Later that afternoon, he was walking to the detention room when a jock walked past him and hit his shoulder, causing him to stumble.

He snapped.

He turned around and grabbed the jock by the back of his jacket before spinning him around and slamming him up against the lockers.

“Don’t you dare touch me!” He screamed in the jocks face. “You stay the hell away from me or I will fuck you up!”

He vaguely remembered hearing someone down the hall yell _“Fuck him up!”_ before Blaine was pushing between him and the jock, pushing him away from the lockers.

“Kurt, stop, what are you doing? You’re better than this,” he was saying.

Kurt was still seething. He brushed Blaine off of him, saying, “How would _you_ know?” before he stormed off toward the detention room.

If he had looked back he would have seen the hurt expression on Blaine’s face, but he didn’t want to witness the damage he had done.

~*~*~

Kurt and Blaine were the last two to leave when detention was over. They were walking down the hallway together toward the exit of the school and Kurt was doing his best to keep himself together long enough to do what he had to do.

He finally stopped walking, and Blaine stopped as well when he noticed Kurt wasn't walking next to him anymore.

"Kurt?"

Kurt was staring at the floor trying to gather his wits. He looked up at Blaine then, and Blaine was thrown for a loop when he noticed that Kurt's defensive walls were up, and he was trying to act overconfident and aloof like he usually did when there were other people from school around. However, they were alone now, so Blaine was confused as to why Kurt was acting that way.

"Blaine, we need to talk." Kurt figured that the best way to go about it was to just get it over with.

Blaine was still confused as to why Kurt was acting so weird. "Umm, okay? Is everything okay?"   
Kurt shook his head, "No… Blaine, I want to breakup."

There. It was out.

Blaine was shocked into silence for a few moments, trying to figure out what was going on. He was trying to put the pieces together as to why this was happening. He thought Kurt cared about him, and now he was just leaving him? He didn't get it.

"What? I... I don't understand,"

"There's nothing to understand, Blaine. I think we should break up. That's all there is to it." Blaine was once again shocked by the coldness that Kurt was showing toward him.

"Bu--but that can't just be _it_. If this is about what I brought up yesterday, I'm sorry, I overstepped and I shouldn't have--"

"It's not that," Kurt cut him off. He didn't want Blaine blaming himself for something he didn't do. 

"Then what is it?!"  The whole situation was fishy, with Kurt's affronted attitude and his sudden desire to end what they had between them. It was ridiculous, and Blaine wanted answers.

"We are too different, Blaine. I saw your house and your family and your life yesterday. Your life is too perfect for me to fit into it. We just don't belong together, we don't fit."

"Bullshit."

Kurt was, for the first time, surprised out of his front, not expecting Blaine to call him on anything.

"I'm not gonna let you just dismiss what there is between us, Kurt. I know you can feel it too. We _do_ fit together. There is this connection between us, and I felt it the moment I met you." Blaine had begun to move forward toward Kurt, and just as he reached his hand out to try and take Kurt's, Kurt stepped back to avoid his touch. Kurt knew it would break him.

"Blaine, my life is shit, and it is going to be too much for you. It is mine alone to deal with, and you don't need to be around to get caught up in it all."

Blaine laughed humorlessly, "I think it's a bit too late for that, Kurt. You may not have meant to, but I am already caught up in your life. I care too much about you to not care about what you have to deal with. And it doesn’t matter to me! I want to be there to help you! I remember you told me at one point that you were going to help me survive this hell hole. You were going to protect me. Well that is a two way street. Who is going to protect you when you are busy looking out for someone else? I want to be there for you, I want to help protect _you_ too. "

Blaine's words were starting to affect Kurt in a way he didn't think they would. He was running out of excuses to throw at Blaine.

"Well, Blaine, you don't--"

"Dammit, Kurt, don't shut me out!"

"God, why are you fighting against this so much?!"

"Because I love you!"

The silence reigned between them. The whole time the thoughts running through Kurt's head were a mixture of,

 _"No, no, no, no, don't do this,"_  
"I don't want to do this to you"  
"I don't want to lose you"   
"I can't do this"   
"I love you, too" 

Kurt didn't realize he was shaking until Blaine was standing in front of him and grasping his trembling hand and holding it against his chest.

"I do, Kurt. I love you, and I’m going to fight for you. All I want is to be with you. You are the most incredible person I have ever met, and I can't give up on you... On us.  Please, don't do this. Tell me how you really feel about what is between us.

_"I love you. I love you so much. I don't want to do this. But I have to. I have to protect you."_

Kurt let out a small sob as he laid his palm flat against Blaine's chest, over his heart. He still had to get Blaine away from him, or he would get hurt.

 _"I'm not going anywhere until you order me away"_ Kurt remembered Blaine's words from a few days ago. While they seemed like a comfort to him at the time, they now seemed like the final nail in the coffin.

He slowly pushed against Blaine's chest until his back hit the nearby lockers with a small thump.

"Blaine, I..."  Kurt looked into his eyes one last time before he averted them to stare off to the side.

"I want you to stay away from me. Don't come near me again. Leave me alone."

And with that, he walked away from Blaine, exiting the school.

Just as he was about to leave, he noticed Karofsky leaning against the wall of one of the adjoining hallways. Karofsky gave him a small nod before he turned and walked the opposite way down the hall.

Kurt ran from the school then, not able to keep himself together anymore.   
He exited the building and ran to the other side of the school to the now empty bleachers. He collapsed against one of the pillars, sobbing into his arms. He felt like a hole had been ripped through his chest, although he knew he had caused it himself.

He caught sight of the small bracelet around his wrist then. He hadn't taken it off since Blaine had given it to him on their date. Kurt began tearing at it, trying to get it off. He didn't feel like he deserved anything that had to do with Blaine anymore. He stopped trying to tear it off as the fight drained out of him, and instead he cradled his wrist to his chest, thinking that the bracelet would be the only thing he would have left of him.

He slumped to the ground as he continued to cry.

 _"I'm so sorry, Blaine."_  
"I love you."  
"I'm sorry. I love you."

~*~*~  
  
Blaine was still standing against the lockers, frozen in shock. He couldn't believe that it was over. He was just... gone.

He didn't really remember leaving the school, but before he knew it, he was dazedly walking into his house and toward his room.

"Hey, Squirt!" Cooper called out from the living room. "Listen, I picked up some new dance moves today at the audition, and since, you know, your dancing levees something to be desired, I figured we could go over some of these new techniques and see if we can't improve your--"

Blaine didn't hear the rest of what Cooper was saying as he slammed his door shut. He fell onto his bed, staring at nothing, just going over everything in his head. He was trying to figure out just what he had done wrong. What had he done to screw up the best thing that ever happened to him?

He thought through everything he could, trying to figure it out. The next time he looked up, it was 1am and he hadn't moved an inch from his position on the bed. He glanced around, noticing that it had gotten dark, when he caught sight of the bear Kurt had given him sitting on his bed. He gingerly reached over and picked it up. He realized that it was the last thing he had of the boy he loved, and he wasn't sure if that was all he was ever going to have of him or not.

Blaine found himself curling around the small bear, trying to get as close to it as possible, as the tears finally started to fall. 


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Blaine woke with very little sleep and knocking on his door.

“Blaine, honey?” His mom said through the door, “We are all going out to lunch with Cooper while he’s still in town. We will leave in about thirty minutes, okay?”

The last thing that Blaine felt like doing was going out and having a cheerful lunch with his family. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day, and probably the rest of the weekend, curled up in bed. But he had already disappointed one person. He didn’t want to disappoint his parents and brother too. So, he mustered up as much will as he could and tried to make his voice sound as normal as possible.

“O-okay. I’ll be ready soon.”

He heard his mother walk back down stairs, and he drug himself to the bathroom to start getting ready.

All day long he felt like he was going to break any second, but everyone was having such a nice time at lunch that he pulled himself together and shoved his feelings aside. He didn’t want to ruin the occasion by being weak. So he put on a happy face and sat with his family while they all talked and laughed throughout lunch.

Afterwards when they were leaving the restaurant and heading toward the car, Cooper stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet,”

Blaine just nodded, “Yeah, I think I'm just getting a little bit of a headache,”

Cooper eyed him suspiciously, but let the matter go anyway.

Blaine spent the rest of the weekend in his room performing menial tasks, like cleaning and organizing, anything to keep his mind from wandering to the reason why he was so miserable in the first place.

~*~*~

“Blaine. Blaine, wake up.”

Blaine was awoken by Cooper shaking and poking him.

“Ugh, Cooper, stop. What time is it?” He looked over to his bedside table and the clock read 4:06 am.

“Fuck, are you serious? It’s a Monday, I have school in a few hours. What do you want?” Blaine grumbled while he tried to pull the covers up over his head. Cooper grabbed them and pulled them back again.

“I need you to take me to the airport. It will be fun brother bonding time!”

“What? Why do you need to go to the airport _now_?” Blaine groaned again.

“Because my flight leaves in two hours and it takes an hour to get to the airport and they say you need to be there at least an hour before your flight, so come on! I’ll even drive there, you just have to bring the car back home,”

“Ugh, fine!” Blaine begrudgingly got out of bed and went to throw some jeans on before following Cooper out to the car.

Even though he had an hour car ride to do nothing, Blaine found that he couldn’t go back to sleep. His mind had automatically gone to the fact that he would be going back to school that day, and consequently, possibly see Kurt.

He had still been trying to figure out what he had done wrong to cause Kurt to break up with him, and by this time he was just frustrated with the whole situation.

“You gonna tell me what’s going on over there, Squirt?”

“No.”

“Aww come on, this is supposed to be brother bonding time, remember? I can tell that you are upset about something, you have been acting weird all weekend. Sometimes it helps to talk about it. So come on, let it out,” Cooper made a sweeping gesture with his hand, which Blaine had to duck to avoid.

Blaine was still silent for a few moments before he finally said, “Kurt broke up with me.”

“What?! Why?”

“I don’t know.” Blaine felt his heart breaking all over again as he remembered it. Talking about it was not helping.

“Well, it’s his loss. He doesn’t know what he’s missing. He must be crazy or something to break up with you. He must be—“

“Coop. Stop.”

“What? I’m just trying to make you feel better.”

“Yeah, and you trash talking him isn’t going to help.”

“Why not?”

Blaine wiped at his eyes as the tears were starting to form again, “Because I still love him.”

Cooper sighed, “Shit…”

“Stop saying that like it’s a bad thing.” Blaine mumbled out.

“Well it doesn’t seem to be a very good thing at the present moment, Blainey.”

Blaine sighed, “What do I do?”

“Well it seems to me that you have two options,“ Cooper held up two fingers to emphasize his point.

“One, you can either forget about him,” Blaine didn’t like the thought of that, “Or, you can show him why dumping you was the stupidest decision of his life,”

“Cooper...”

“No, I’m serious! What did he tell you was the reason he broke up with you?”

“I think it came down to he thought I couldn’t handle the problems he has to deal with in his life.”

“And can you? Can you deal with it?”

“Yes.”

“And would you do anything for him?”

“Yes!”

“Then show him that.”

“Oh,” Blaine was a little shocked by Cooper’s answer. He hadn’t really thought about trying to change Kurt’s mind, he had been to focused on trying to figure out what he had done wrong in the first place.

“Yeah, if he thinks that you can’t handle his shit, then show him that you _can_. Then, he will realize his mistake and come running back into your arms!”

Blaine thought about his brother’s suggestion for a while. Maybe he could do that. Maybe he could show Kurt that he really cared about him. Maybe he would be able to show him that he would do anything for him.

Blaine hugged his brother goodbye once they made it to the airport and then he had another hour drive back home to think of ways he might be able to catch Kurt’s attention.

~*~*~

Later that morning while Blaine was walking toward the entrance to the school he saw Quinn marching up to him angrily. Before he had a chance to say or ask anything she seized his wrist and began dragging him around behind the school.

Once they were near the bleachers and out of sight of the other students she let go of his wrist and shoved him against the wall.

“What the fuck happened?! “ She seethed.

“Nothing,” Blaine replied as he gripped his bag, trying to remain calm and not get mad.

“Like hell nothing happened! Why would you do that?!” she stepped toward him threateningly.

“I didn’t! Quinn, _he_ broke up with _me_!”

She stopped momentarily in her tirade to look at him with a shocked expression.

“He didn’t tell you that?” he asked, leaning back against the wall.

“No, he didn’t. Well then what did you do to make him dump you?” she accused him again.

“I don’t know… why are you blaming this all on me? I didn’t want to break up!”

“I’m blaming this on you because Kurt is pretty fucking upset about it, that’s why!”

This came as news to Blaine.

“Upset? What do you mean upset?”

“I mean like spent-the-weekend-on-my-couch-crying-and-watching- _Moulin-Rouge_ -and- _The-Notebook_ -on-repeat upset. I was lucky I got him to school today,”

Blaine sighed and dropped his head back to thump against the wall. “I don’t get it. He just _left_ , with very little reasoning to back it up, and now _you_ tell me that he is really upset, and I just… I just don’t get it…”

Quinn leaned up against the wall next to him, “I don’t get it either.”

They leaned against the wall next to each other in silence for a few more moments before Quinn spoke again.

“But, I will tell you this: Kurt is not stupid. He always has reasons for the things he does, and he is not the type of person to throw a relationship away willy-nilly. I’ll try to talk to him and see if I can get him to tell me anything.”

As she began to walk away she turned back to him, “I know it may not seem like it, given the way he has been acting lately, but by the way he talks about you to me, I can tell that he really cares about you.”

That hit Blaine harder than it should have. If he cared so much, but was still willing to leave him, then he must not care _that_ much, right?

Still, Blaine wasn’t willing to give up yet. He spent the rest of the day trying to formulate a plan in his head.

~*~*~

The next day Kurt found himself wandering around the hallways aimlessly between classes. It had been three days since he broke up with Blaine, and he still felt terrible. He knew he probably seemed pathetic, how broken he was over somebody that _he_ had broken up with. It was his own fault that he felt this way. He had gotten attached so quickly, and he had been careless with the whole thing. But thinking back, he hadn’t really stood a chance, had he? As soon as he had seen Blaine on that first day of school, standing all by himself at his locker, Kurt knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay away. Blaine had snatched his heart, and Kurt had willingly let him.

Kurt was broken out of his trance when he overheard a group of jocks that passed him.

“Yeah, and we’ll get Anderson after lunch, and that will teach him,”

Kurt stopped in his tracks. This was not supposed to be happening. Blaine was supposed to be left alone. He realized that he had to find Karofsky and figure out what was going on. As Kurt started moving again, seeking out the large neanderthal, he turned a corner to find one Blaine Anderson making his way down the hallway dressed much like he was the first day of school.

He was wearing bright colors and a close-to-florescent bow tie, and he definitely stood out. This was exactly what they had been trying to get him to avoid all year. The jocks didn’t like when people stood out besides them. Especially when it was in a way that they didn’t approve of, like wearing different clothes to catch attention.

“Shit…”

~*~*~

“Karofsky!” Kurt finally found him after one of his classes. “We need to talk.”

“What do you want, fairy?” Karofsky asked, not even sparing a look over his shoulder at Kurt.

“I thought we had a deal!” Kurt stormed after him.

“Well, we did, but then I got to thinking. That was a pretty convincing act you put on with Anderson that day after school. But that’s all it was, wasn’t it? It was all an act. How am I supposed to know whether you actually broke up with him or you two just put on a good show?”

“W-what? Are you serious? Of course I broke up with him, because _you_ said you would leave him alone and _back the fuck off_ if I did!” Kurt was about ready to punch something. Or maybe _someone_.

“Well then, I guess you can follow directions very well. But Anderson is stepping out of line anyway. The little small fry’s got nerves, but not for long. We will fix that,” Karofsky said as he continued to walk down the hallway.

“Dammit, Karofsky, what the fuck are you going to do?!”

“I think that a few slushies will teach him to not wear such hideous outfits anymore.”

“Why can’t you just _leave him alone_?!”

But Karofsky didn’t respond. He just kept walking down the hallway, leaving Kurt behind.

Kurt stood fuming in the middle of the hallway. He looked up at one of the hall clocks, he had only one period left before lunch, and after lunch the jocks were planning to attack Blaine. Kurt had to find him and try to warn him.

~*~*~

Blaine was standing in the bathroom washing his hands when he heard someone come in. He looked up to see Kurt standing by the door.

“Blaine, what the _hell_ are you doing?”

Blaine looked back down into the sink. “I’m washing my hands,” he said as he turned off the water. “Personal hygiene is important, you know.”

Kurt let out a frustrated noise, “ _No_ , I mean why are you dressed like that? Or even, why are you still _here_? Don’t you know what’s going to happen?”

“No, I can’t say that I do,” Blaine replied as he dried his hands off.

“Karofsky and half of the football team are all planning to slushie you after lunch!” Kurt said throwing his hands up.

Blaine leaned up against one of the sinks, staring ahead, not looking at Kurt. “Are they now? Huh. Interesting.”

Kurt was getting even more frustrated that Blaine didn’t seem to be taking this as seriously as he should have been.

“Blaine. I don’t think you understand,” Kurt said as he moved to stand in front of Blaine. “They are _all_ going to slushie you. One is bad enough, trust me, but an entire _team_ is going to be awful. And also, once they do this, they aren’t going to stop. They are just going to continue to try and make you’re your life miserable, and it will just get worse. You can at least avoid today if you leave right after lunch, or even now, but you can’t just stay here and do _nothing_. You have to—“

“Kurt, stop.” Blaine said, cutting Kurt off as he started to ramble. “I think I can handle some slushies.”

“But you—“

“Stop,” Blaine grasped Kurt’s shoulders, cutting him off again. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to protect me anymore. I’m not your responsibility or anything. I’ll be fine.” Blaine tried to give him a small reassuring smile.

“But, I…” Kurt tried to continue on, but when he couldn’t find the right words to say, they both just stayed in the silence for a few moments.

As they stood there Blaine could now clearly see the dark circles under Kurt’s eyes. Maybe Quinn was right, something had to be going on, but Blaine didn’t know how to go about trying to figure out what it was.

“Kurt?” Blaine bent down to try and catch Kurt’s eye, since he was staring at the floor. “Please tell me what’s going on?”

Kurt just averted his eyes more. “Nothing’s going on.”

Blaine sighed, and nodded, “Fine. If you say so.”

Blaine let go of Kurt and moved toward the door.

“Blaine?” Kurt called after him. Blaine turned back to him just as he was about to open the door.

“Please don’t do this,” Kurt pleaded.

Blaine just shrugged , “I’m not doing anything. I’m just going to mind my own business and continue on with my day.”

“Blaine…”

“You know I still love you, right?”

Kurt couldn’t help but let out a little gasp as he looked up to meet Blaine’s eyes. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few moments before Blaine gave him a little nod and left the bathroom.

~*~*~

Kurt was a nervous wreck throughout lunch. He kept glancing over at both the jocks table and the table that Blaine was sitting at. They were all acting like nothing was going to happen. Especially Blaine. He laughed and chatted all through lunch like he had no idea what was about to happen.

It was driving Kurt crazy because he couldn’t _do_ anything about it. He couldn’t reason with Karofsky, he couldn’t get Blaine to leave, he couldn’t _do_ _anything._

When lunch was over and everybody flooded out of the cafeteria, Kurt tried to follow behind Blaine to see what he would do. The hallways were crowded with students bustling to their classes, but as he turned a corner he finally found Blaine, standing at his locker taking out his books.

And walking down the opposite end of the hallway toward him was the group of jocks, lead by Karofsky, all carrying slushies.

Kurt didn’t think, he just reacted.

~*~*~

As Blaine closed his locker and turned around, he wasn’t surprised to see the group of jocks surrounding him. Karofsky was the one to step forward first with his cup of red slush. Blaine closed his eyes and backed against the lockers as Karofsky raised his cup, ready to throw it.

He waited for the ice cold impact, but when it didn’t happen, he was extremely confused.

He had heard the ice hit something, but it hadn’t been him.

He slowly opened his eyes, to see Kurt standing over him, hands bracketed against the locker on either side of Blaine’s head, breathing heavy, and with red ice dripping down his back.

“What the fuck, Hummel?!” Karofsky yelled at him. Kurt just ignored him and continued to look at Blaine.

Blaine was just as confused as everyone else there. “Kurt, what are you—“

“I love you.”

Blaine was stunned. “Wh-what? Really?”

Kurt nodded and leaned forward to touch their foreheads together, “I love you.”

Blaine couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he reached up to tangle his fingers in Kurt’s hair and he pulled him down for an eager kiss.

“Well don’t just stand there!” Karofsky shouted at the rest of the football team, who had been too shocked at the turn of events to do anything.

The rest of the team seemed to snap out of their daze at that point and one by one they began throwing their slushies.

Once the slushie throwing had recommenced, Blaine broke away from the kiss. “Kurt, you have to move,” He said concernedly, grasping Kurt’s shirt, trying to move him out of the way. “You don’t have to do this.”

Kurt gritted his teeth and shook his head as another slushie hit his back. “No, I’m not going to let him do this to you,” he whispered as he huddled closer to Blaine to try and shield him even more.

Once Blaine realized that Kurt wasn’t going to move, no matter what he said, he just clung to him even tighter, to try and maybe help him endure the slushies until they were all over.

They remained there until the slushies had all stopped and all of the jocks had left. By the time Kurt pulled away, everyone else had filtered into their classes, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone in the hallway. Blaine had only gotten a little bit of slush on his hands and arms, but other than that was relatively dry. Kurt, on the other hand, was almost completely soaked. His back and sides were completely covered in shush as was his hair. Some of the ice was soaking into the front of his shirt, and he shivered as melting juice was running down his body.

He was a complete mess, and Blaine knew he had to be cold and miserable. He quickly took Kurt’s hands and led him to the nearest bathroom.

~*~*~

Blaine started to run the hot water in the sink, and he guided Kurt’s head under the warm water. He washed Kurt’s hair, as tenderly as he could, to try and get out the slushy mess.

He was reminded of the first time that he and Kurt had interacted with each other, and Kurt had done the very same thing to him. He remembered how he had gently run his fingers through his hair to rid his curls of the gel he had been wearing that day.

Blaine finished washing his hair, but Kurt was still covered in slush.

“I have an extra set of clothes in my locker,” Blaine said. “I’ll go get them and you can change.”

Kurt nodded. “Okay, but it will look like I'm wearing a three-year-old’s clothes,” he said with a smirk.

Blaine smacked him on the arm, “Shut up, I’m not that short,” and he walked out of the bathroom to retrieve the clothes.

When Blaine returned to the bathroom he stopped short when he was met with the sight of Kurt peeling his undershirt off and draping it over one of the sinks, where his wet jacket and shirt were already placed.

When the door banged closed behind him Kurt turned to face him, as a blush spread across his face.

“Umm, I was getting cold, so I thought it would be best to get out of those,” he said motioning to the clothes in the sink.

Blaine walked over to him and handed over the fresh clothes and a towel, the whole time not being able to tear his eyes away from Kurt.

“That’s fine,” he said, looking back to meet his eyes.

After Kurt had dried himself off and lowered the towel again, Blaine caught sight of Kurt’s back in the mirror, and saw, once again, the old scars littered across his back from his past tormenting. Blaine moved to stand behind Kurt and he couldn’t help but run his hands across a few of the marks, wishing he could make them better.

He rested his forehead against the back of Kurt’s neck and let out a sigh, “Kurt…”

Kurt turned to face him, “It’s fine, Blaine. _I’m_ fine. Don’t worry about it. It’s in the past,” he reached down and tangled their fingers together as he spoke.

Blaine nodded after a moment of staring at their hands. He was happy to see them intertwined again.

“Kurt, you didn’t have to do what you just did.” Blaine said looking back up at him again. “I knew what they were going to do and I was fine with it. I was _prepared_ for it, and I—“

“No,” Kurt cut him off. “I wasn’t going to let them do that to you. I am tired of them pushing me… _Us_ around.”

“But, Kurt—“

Kurt put a finger over his mouth to silence him.

“Let me go change, and then we can talk about this, okay? I have some explaining to do.”

Kurt only removed his hand after Blaine had nodded in agreement.

After Kurt finished changing, he took Blaine’s hand and led him out toward the back of the school.

~*~*~

Kurt and Blaine were sitting facing each other under the bleachers behind the school. Their hands were in their respective laps, and their knees where slightly brushing where their legs were crossed. After neither of them had said anything for a while, Blaine spoke first. 

"So, are you gonna tell me what's going on now?" 

Kurt nodded, "Yeah, um.... I don't... I don't really know where to start..." 

"Well, what if I ask you about things that I am confused about?" Blaine said while still smiling at Kurt. He wanted to try and keep the mood light, and assure Kurt that he wasn't mad at him. 

Kurt readily agreed, thinking that was the best course of action, even if he thought that Blaine's questions would still be kind of hard to answer. 

"Okay, first question," Blaine said sitting up a little straighter. "Did you mean it when you said you loved me?" 

Kurt relaxed and smiled, that wasn't a very hard question. "Yes, of course. I love you." 

Blaine's smile grew bigger, "Okay, good. I love you too, by the way." 

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle at how ridiculous they were both being. "Question two?" 

"Right, question two." Blaine paused to think of what he would ask next. "Quinn told me the other day that you were at her house all weekend, and you were pretty upset." He said instead. 

Kurt seemed to shrink back a little at the mention of the weekend. "That's not really a question."

"Well, my question is, why were you so upset?" 

Kurt picked at a loose thread on his pants before he answered. "I was mad at myself for being so stupid and losing you," 

Blaine was even more confused. "But... You broke up with _me_."

Kurt glared at him, "Yes, I'm aware of that." 

"Did you... Did you not want to break up with me?" 

"Not particularly, no." 

"Then... Why did you?" 

Kurt laughed humorlessly, "and _there_ , is where things start to get a little complicated." 

"What's complicated? You broke up with me when you didn't really want to, so there has to be some alternative reason why you did it," 

"There is. I just... I had to protect you," 

"By breaking up with me? No offense, Kurt, but I'm not exactly following your logic here. It doesn't seem like you could protect someone by not being around them when--" 

"Karofsky threatened me that he would do the same things to you that he did to me, only _a lot_ worse, if I didn't break up with you!" Kurt said, exasperated. 

Blaine was struck silent as Kurt's words sank in. 

"So, I did. I tried to think of a way around it, but I couldn't. He had us cornered, and I couldn't find another way besides doing what he said. So even though it broke my heart, I did it." 

They were both silent for a while, Blaine trying to think of something to say, and Kurt waiting patiently. 

Blaine was trying to comprehend everything as all of the pieces started to click into place. 

"And... And just now, in the hallway? You stood up to him _again_ , for me?" 

"Yes," Kurt said as he reached over and took Blaine's hands that were slightly shaking now, "I should have known never to trust anything he says. He promised that he would leave you alone if I broke up with you, but then I heard that they were all going to slushie you, and I knew that Karofsky wasn’t going to keep up his end of the bargain, and I'm not going to just stand by while he is trying to hurt you." Kurt shrugged, “So I got involved. I wasn’t just going to let them do that to you.”

Kurt brought one of his hands up to stroke Blaine's cheek as Blaine clutched at Kurt’s shirt, as if he was afraid he would float away. 

Blaine shook his head, "I can't believe you," he chuckled, "you really are amazing." 

Kurt moved forward to press his lips to Blaine's, in what he thought would be a small fleeting gesture, but Blaine quickly reciprocated the action, and he found he couldn't pull himself away from him again. 

Before either of them realized it, their kisses had become needy and desperate, and Blaine had practically crawled into Kurt's lap. 

"So," Blaine said between kisses, a little breathlessly, "where are we now? With us?" 

They kissed some more before Kurt responded. 

"Breaking up with you was the stupidest thing I ever did. Please be my boyfriend again? _Please_." 

"Yes. Yes, of course." Blaine gasped before he claimed Kurt's mouth again. 

When they broke away momentarily to breathe and Blaine started kissing and sucking down the side of Kurt's neck, Kurt remembered exactly _where_ they were at the moment. 

"Why don't we-- ngh-- we should get out of here." He ran his fingers through Blaine's hair, loving being able to feel his curls again. "My uh... My house is empty..." 

Blaine pulled back to look into Kurt's eyes, searching for any sign of hesitation. When he found none, he nodded enthusiastically. 

"Yes. Yes, okay, let's go." 

He quickly stood up and pulled Kurt to his feet, and they headed toward the parking lot. 

~*~*~

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for smut.

They stumbled into the foyer of Kurt’s house, barely able to get the door closed before they were grabbing at each other again. Holding on, it seemed, for dear life. Blaine’s back hit the wall with a small thump as Kurt crowded into him kissing along Blaine’s neck. Blaine clutched the back of Kurt’s shirt, trying to catch his breath.

“God, I missed you,” he panted out as Kurt nipped at the spot right below his ear. Kurt pulled back to look in his eyes.

“Blaine…I—I’m sorry.”

Blaine was caught off guard, and was concerned some too.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asked as he stroked Kurt’s cheek. Kurt reached up and tangled their fingers together and held their hands in place, resting against Kurt’s face. He kissed Blaine’s wrist a few times before he responded.

“I’m just so sorry that I let this happen. I never should have listened to that idiot. I’m sorry that I put you through this… I’m sorry I put _us_ through this. I never meant to—“

Blaine cut Kurt off by shushing him gently. “Kurt, please don’t worry about that anymore, don’t even think about it. It’s in the past, and all that matters now is that we are together. Here and now, I’m here with you, and that’s all that matters.”

Kurt bit his lip, as if he was still unsure, as if he wanted to say more. Blaine remedied that by leaning back in and kissing him again. Kurt sighed, and relaxed back into him, as if that was all the reassurance he needed to tell him that everything was going to be okay.

Blaine pulled back for a breath, and whispered against Kurt’s lips, “I love you.”

Kurt kissed down the side of Blaine’s neck, and murmured into his skin, “I love you, too.”

Blaine couldn’t help but let out a groan as he heard Kurt saying those words.

Kurt pulled back again to say, “Let’s go upstairs.”

Blaine nodded eagerly, and grabbed Kurt’s hand as they made their way upstairs as quickly as they could. Once in Kurt’s room, Blaine pulled Kurt to him again, unable to keep his hands off of him. He wrapped his arms around Kurt’s shoulders, trying to pull him even closer.

He felt Kurt’s hands moving across the small of his back, and then grabbing and pulling at the fabric of Blaine’s shirt to get it untucked from his pants. Blaine slid his hands from Kurt’s shoulders to run down the front of his shirt, and then down to the hem. He tugged on it a little, and Kurt disconnected from the kiss momentarily to lift up is arms and to pull the shirt off himself.

And then Kurt was standing, shirtless, in front of him, and he couldn’t help but to reach forward and run his hands across his chest, feeling the muscles there shifting as Kurt breathed heavily in and out. Kurt kissed him again, this time thrusting his tongue in between his lips and exploring his mouth. Blaine moaned at the feeling, and Kurt slowly walked him backwards until Blaine’s legs hit the bed and he fell back with a small _oomph_.

Blaine felt wrecked already, even though they hadn’t _done_ anything yet, but laying there, with Kurt standing over him and raking his eyes all over him, he felt the heat continue to rise. Kurt knelt on the bed, with one knee between Blaine’s legs and his arms bracketed on either side of Blaine’s head, and leaned down to kiss him. It was slower this time, with slow but deep caresses, and it made Blaine feel light-headed.

After a few more minutes, Kurt trailed his lips across Blaine’s cheek and to his neck where he kissed down to his collarbone as he slowly pulled off Blaine’s bow tie. As he began to undo the buttons on Blaine’s shirt, he followed the trail of skin that was revealed with kisses and licks. When he reached Blaine’s waistband, Kurt looked back up at him. Blaine was breathing heavily, watching Kurt through heavy lidded eyes, with his hands curled into the sheets on either side of him. Kurt smirked and cupped Blaine through his pants, which, given how turned on Blaine was, made him groan and arch his back up off the bed.

“Ugh! Kurt, please….”

Kurt moved back up the bed and pushed the unbuttoned shirt off of Blaine’s shoulders, and Blaine helped get the shirt off and throw it across the room. Kurt urged him to scoot up the bed until he was leaning against the pillows, and then Kurt reached for his waistband.

Kurt popped the top button and pulled his zipper down agonizingly slowly, and Blaine thought the anticipation might kill him. He lifted his hips to help Kurt get his pants off, and sighed at the slight relief from pressure.

Kurt moved to his underwear next, pulling them off and following them down Blaine’s legs, kissing all the way down. He then kissed his way back up, stopping when he had kissed the inside of Blaine’s bent knee to look at Blaine again.

Blaine saw that Kurt’s pupils were blown, but the look on his face was one of pure love.

“You doing okay?” Kurt asked.

Blaine couldn’t help but laugh, and smile. “Yeah, I am,” he replied. “But I think I might die if you stop.”

Kurt grinned at him. He leaned up so he was close to him again. “Well then…” he kissed Blaine quickly but fully. “I guess I should keep going.”

He kissed around his hip bone a few times before he leaned over and took the head of Blaine’s cock into his mouth.

Blaine couldn’t stop the loud moan that ripped its way out of his chest, and Kurt had to hold his hips down to keep him from thrusting up. Kurt smirked around him and slowly worked his way down. He moved his head up and down, savoring the taste and working his way down further and further. Blaine was falling apart with every pull, and he didn’t know how long he could last if Kurt kept going.

Kurt kept sucking and licking, working Blaine over, and it almost became too much.

“Kurt… Kurt, you—nngh—Kurt you have to, ah… you have to stop.” Blaine panted out with difficulty. He almost whined at the loss when Kurt pulled off, even though he had told him to.

Kurt looked up at him, “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” He looked almost like a kicked puppy.

“No! No…” Blaine said as he reached for him, pulling him up to lay next to him.

“It’s just that,” he said as he stroked his cheek, “if you kept going, I wasn’t going to last, and I’d still like to…”

Kurt looked steadily back at him. “You sure? You want to do that?” he said concernedly.

Blaine nodded with conviction. “Yes, I do. I… I want you inside me, I want to _feel_ you. Please Kurt…”

Kurt surged forward and kissed him, full of teeth and tongue, and rolled on top of him to press him further into the pillows. Blaine clutched at his shoulders, trying to get him closer, but there was only one way to do that.

Breaking the kiss, he said, “Do you have—“

Kurt slid off the bed to rid himself of his pants and underwear, and then he went to the side table, and returned with lube and a condom. Kurt popped open the cap and poured some lube onto his fingers. He leaned back in and kissed Blaine, tongue invading Blaine’s mouth, caressing and perfect. Blaine got so caught up in the feel of Kurt’s lips that he gave a little jolt when Kurt’s cool fingers pressed against his hole.

Kurt gently shushed him, “Just relax, sweetheart.”

Blaine took a deep breath, and when Kurt’s fingers rubbed at him again, it made him shiver with anticipation. Kurt’s free hand stroked through his hair, petting him, and it was so calming he just felt _so relaxed_.

Kurt worked him open until he had one finger inside him. Blaine moaned as Kurt moved the finger in and out, getting him used to the feeling. When he felt Blaine’s muscles relax again he slowly added another finger, and the sensation sent pleasurable sparks up Blaine’s spine.

Blaine was panting, and Kurt leaned over to kiss Blaine’s temple. “Okay?” he asked.

Blaine nodded vigorously, “Yeah, yeah. Another, come on.”

Kurt rested their foreheads together as he slowly added a third finger. The stretch took a little bit longer to get used to, but when Kurt hit the spot he seemed to be looking for, it made Blaine moan loud and low and it had him begging, “Please, Kurt. Please. I’m ready, I’m ready.”

Kurt nodded and kissed him again as he reached for the condom. Blaine took it out of his hands and ripped open the packaging to put it on Kurt himself. He stroked Kurt a few times once the condom was on, and Kurt groaned, his head dropping forward and leaning over Blaine.

“Blaine…”

“I’m ready, Kurt.”

Kurt grasped himself and lined up with Blaine’s entrance. They kissed again, and Blaine could not help but moan into the other man’s mouth when Kurt started to push in. The stretch made him feel so full, but so _good_.

Kurt was fully sheathed, and they were panting into each other’s mouths, their foreheads pressed together, each trying to catch their breath.

After a moment, Blaine leaned forward and kissed the first place he could get to, which happened to be the spot next to Kurt’s nose.

Kurt giggled at the action, and stroked Blaine’s cheek and along his hairline.

Blaine nodded, “You can move… Please…”

Slowly, Kurt pulled back, and the drag caused them both to moan. But when Kurt snapped his hips back forward again, it all but knocked the breath out of Blaine. He had never felt so much pleasure in his life as when Kurt kept hitting that little bundle of nerves within him over and over and _over_ again.

Little _uh, uh_ ’s were sounding from Blaine as Kurt kept moving in and out of him, and Kurt’s arms had started to shake from holding himself up and from the intensity of the moment.

“Blaine… I can’t. I—“

“Do it, Kurt. Come on. _Oh God, please!_ ”

Kurt thrusted a few more times before he was moaning loudly and coming. He kept pumping his hips as he rode out his orgasm, and he grasped Blaine’s neglected cock. After a few strokes, Blaine followed after him, spilling all over their stomachs. Kurt kept pumping into him until they were both fully spent.

Both exhausted, Kurt collapsed onto Blaine’s chest, both of them calming down and catching their breath.

Blaine was stroking his fingers through Kurt’s hair as they relaxed, and Kurt could hear the slowing of Blaine’s rapid heartbeat from where his head was resting on Blaine’s chest.

A few minutes later Blaine began shifting him so that he could move out from under Kurt. Kurt whined at being moved, and Blaine chuckled and kissed his forehead as he slipped out of the bed and to the bathroom. Kurt pulled the condom off and tied it before throwing it in the trashcan near the bed.

Blaine came back with a warm washcloth and began wiping off Kurt’s stomach, cleaning him off. When he was finished, he put the cloth aside, pulled a blanket up, and snuggled into the bed next to Kurt. Kurt took his hand and laced their fingers together as he rubbed his thumb across Blaine’s hand.

Blaine was staring at him with a small smile on his face.

“What are you thinking about?” Kurt asked.

“About how much I am in love with you,” Blaine simply answered.

Kurt beamed. “I love you, too,” he said leaning over to kiss Blaine. “I love you _so_ much.”

They snuggled together under the blanket, and within minutes they were both fast asleep.

~*~*~

Blaine woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in through the window. He looked around at the unfamiliar environment, but then remembered where he was, _who_ he was with. He couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across his face. He could feel Kurt’s body pressed along his back, and his arms wrapped securely around his middle. When he tried to turn over to face Kurt, he heard him whine a little at the movement. Blaine chuckled, and maneuvered himself in Kurt’s arms so that he if facing him. Kurt still had his eyes closed, but he pulled Blaine closer to him once he stopped moving. Blaine stroked along his hairline, cheek, jaw line… He just couldn’t stop touching him, and marveling at the beauty of this man. He moved forward to press his lips against Kurt’s, and he heard Kurt let out a small “mmm”.

When he pulled back Kurt’s eyes slowly drifted open, and they both smiled.

“Good morning,” Blaine said.

Kurt wound his fingers through Blaine’s wild curls, “Mmm, I would agree with that statement.”

Blaine laughed, and moved back in to kiss him again.

~*~*~

Blaine was leaning up against the doorjamb, and Kurt was leaning over him, staring into his eyes. Blaine really should leave, and go home for the weekend, but with Kurt standing that close to him, _looking_ at him like that, Blaine felt like he couldn’t move away if his life depended on it. Kurt leaned in slowly and captured his lips, kissing him slow and steadily, their lips brushing together over and over again. Blaine felt like he was in utter bliss. There was nowhere else that he would rather be.

Kurt broke the kiss, but stayed in Blaine’s space, resting their foreheads together, his eyes closed, breathing steadily, as if he was just basking in his presence.

Kurt sighed contentedly and said, “I love you.”

Blaine felt the grin spreading across his face. He still could not get used to the fact that Kurt loved him. Maybe he would never get used to it.

He wound his harm around his neck and held him close. “I love you, too,” he said back.

Blaine was in his own little world of heaven.

But it was all about to get dashed away before he even had a chance to fully enjoy it. He should have known that nothing can stay perfect for forever.

~*~*~

They spent the rest of the weekend texting and calling back and forth, and finding any chance they could to hang out with each other. They were trying to make up for the short time they had missed apart.

On Monday at detention they spent it pressed close to each other’s sides, watching the others – mainly Puck—jump around and act silly. Blaine was content to just sit and be near Kurt, for as long as he possibly could.

They stayed behind after the others had left for the day to get a little bit of private time. Which basically meant Kurt pressing Blaine up against the nearest wall and attacking his lips.

After they were both thoroughly flushed and rumpled, they left the room, ready to head out for one of their houses to do homework, and if they were lucky, a movie and hopefully a lot of cuddling.

“How much homework do you have to do?” Kurt asked as he tangled his fingers with Blaine’s.

Blaine blushed and ducked his head. He still wasn’t used to these small public displays of affection that Kurt would give him.

“Well I have a bit of reading to do and—“

“HUMMEL!”

They turned in time for Karofsky to barrel into them, knocking Blaine to the ground and pushing Kurt up against the lockers with a forceful slam. He had his forearm pressed against Kurt’s throat, and Kurt was struggling to push him off.

“You fucking asshole. That was some stunt you pulled the other day.” Karofsky growled at him.

Blaine quickly got to his feet, and ran to try and push Karofsky away. “Get off of him!”

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?”

They all looked over to see Mr. Johnson standing at the end of the hallway. “RELEASE HIM IMMEDIATELY.” He yelled marching over toward the group.

Kurt fell to the ground, as Karofsky stepped away from him, coughing and trying to catch his breath. Blaine immediately ran to him.

Karofsky turned to leave, but was stopped by Mr. Johnson. “Ah-ah, Mr. Karofsky. Unless you wish to be expelled on the spot, you will accompany me to Principle Figgin’s office.”

Kurt had caught his breath and was taking deep breaths as Blaine helped him stand. Mr. Johnson turned to them, “Come along, boys. You too.”

~*~*~

They sat in the chairs outside of Principal Figgins’ office, waiting for their parents to arrive. Karofsky was sitting inside the office with his father whom had already arrived. Kurt and Blaine had told their side of the story when they had first arrived at the office, and Mr. Johnson had backed up their story with what he had seen happen. Principal Figgins had informed them that all of their parents had to be notified. Karofsky and his father sat silently in the office while Kurt and Blaine waited outside.

Their hands were clasped between them, Kurt’s thumb rubbing across Blaine’s hand, and it was almost soothing in its rhythm. It calmed Blaine. Even though on the inside he wanted to freak out and was on the verge of pacing with worry about what might happen next, the slow back-and-forth of Kurt’s thumb across his hand made him want to relax and not worry about anything.

The feeling was short lived, however, when Blaine’s father appeared and stormed into the office. He paused momentarily in front of Kurt and Blaine, but then stomped past them into the interior of the office, slamming the door behind him. Kurt and Blaine could hear him start yelling, but because of the glass between them they could not make out what he was saying, only loud muffled sounds.

A few minutes later, another man arrived. Kurt’s father, Blaine presumed. He too stopped in front of them.

“You Blaine?” He said. Blaine glanced at Kurt momentarily, but then looked back to Mr. Hummel and nodded.

“Yes sir.”

Kurt’s father stuck his hand out to him, and Blaine shook it with his hand that wasn’t being held by Kurt’s.

“It’s good to meet you, Blaine. Although, I must say that I was hoping it wasn’t going to be in the principal’s office,” he said looking over at Kurt.

Kurt sighed, “Dad…”

“Save it,” his dad cut him off. “Let me go in and see what happened, and we can talk afterward.”

Kurt could only nod and stare at his shoes. Burt turned then and went into the office. When he opened the door they could hear the tail end of what Mr. Anderson had been shouting: “AND THIS IS A COMPLETE ABOMINATION!”

They saw Mr. Anderson pause in his tirade and introduce himself to Mr. Hummel, even though he still looked furious over whatever he had been yelling about.

“’Abomination’” Blaine scoffed to himself. “Sounds like a word for ‘disappointment of a son’ if I ever heard one.”

“Stop that,” Kurt said firmly. “You don’t even know what he was talking about.” He pulled Blaine to him so that Blaine could lay his head on his shoulder.

“I thought you said your parents were being accepting of you?”

“My mom is, she’s been great. But my dad has just gotten really awkward and can’t even have a full conversation with me…” Blaine’s hold on Kurt’s hand tightened.

Kurt sighed again, “Oh honey…” and continued to rub circles over his hand. “Everything is going to be alright.”

“How do you know that?” Blaine couldn’t keep from asking, and unable to keep the worry and fear out of his voice.

He felt Kurt shrug his shoulders a little bit before answering, “It just has to.”

They sat there for another fifteen minutes, listening to the men inside talking. Mr. Anderson wasn’t yelling anymore, but they could tell from his tone of voice that he was still angry. Every now and then his voice would grow slightly louder like he was about to start yelling again, but then Mr. Hummel’s voice would interject and seem to calm the situation down somewhat.

After about a half an hour of sitting, waiting and listening, the boys jumped apart in surprise when the door to the office suddenly opened and Mr. Anderson strode out, but not before turning back to the office and saying, “This is completely ridiculous, and I will _not_ stand for it.”

He walked over to Kurt and Blaine, and knelt down in front of Blaine.

“Are you alright?”

Blaine was caught off guard.

“I… what?”

“Are. You. Alright?” Mr. Anderson said, looking unwaveringly at Blaine.

Blaine was so dumbfounded by the change in attitude from what his father _had_ been acting like, he could only nod.

“Okay good,” Mr. Anderson said, and then he turned to Kurt. “Are you alright, too?”

Blaine though he might fall out of his chair. His father was talking to his _boyfriend_ like it was no big deal.

Kurt was more composed than Blaine was, and nodded as well, “Yes sir. Thank you.”

Mr. Anderson nodded and stood up. “This is ridiculous,” he said, muttering to himself. “I cannot believe this happened, and he’s just gonna—“

Then Mr. Hummel walked out of the office. He walked over to Mr. Anderson and shook his hand. “It was nice to meet you. I’m sorry it had to be under such circumstances.”

“Likewise,” Mr. Anderson replied.

Mr. Hummel headed toward the exit of the office. “Kurt, we are leaving.”

Kurt tried to protest, “But—“

“Now.” Mr. Hummel cut him off. Kurt stood to follow his father.

“It was nice to meet you, Kurt,” Mr. Anderson said.

“It was nice to meet you too,” Kurt replied, then turned to Blaine. “I’ll try to call you later, okay?”

Blaine was so staggered by everything that was happening that he could only nod again. Kurt leaned in to kiss him on the cheek quickly before he hurried out after his father.

After a few moments of silence Mr. Anderson said, “He seems nice.”

Blaine was having a hard time keeping himself together. “Yeah, he’s…”

_He’s amazing. He’s the love of my life. I don’t know what I would do without him. What is going to happen now?_

Blaine looked up at his father. “What is going to happen now?”

Mr. Anderson only sighed, before motioning toward the door. “Let’s go home. We can talk about it there.”

 


	13. Chapter 13

The drive home was quiet. Blaine didn’t say anything, and neither did his father. When they arrived back home, Blaine’s mother wasn’t home, and he figured they would go their separate ways – Blaine to his room and his father to his study – and they would be done with the matter.

Blaine was just about to head to the stairs when his father said, “Blaine, come on into in the kitchen.”

“Oh. O-okay.” Blaine stammered, and he made his way back to the kitchen and sat himself down in one of the dining chairs. He began to mentally prepare himself for the lecture he was about to get about being foolish and running around wasting his time with a _boy_.

His mother had been great about showing support for his relationship, but his father had remained distant. But Blaine remembered how his father had asked him if he was okay when they were back at school, and how he had talked to Kurt like it was nothing.

Blaine’s father sat down in the chair next to him, “Okay Blaine, we should talk.”

Blaine lowered his gaze, “Yes sir.”

He could hear his father sigh, as if in frustration. Figures. He has a right to be frustrated with his disappointing son.

“Blaine, listen to me, and listen to me good. I do not care that you have a boyfriend.”

Blaine’s head snapped up to stare in bewilderment at his father.

“Well, I _do_ care, but only because you are _in a relationship_ which is a big deal, but the fact that it is with a boy is fine. I know I have been a bit distant lately, but it is not because I am ashamed, or disappointed or anything like that… It’s that I do not know how to show my support for you. Today was a bit easier because I could show you with my actions, but when we are just around the house, I am not sure what to do…”

Blaine couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His mother had said that she and his father had been trying to be better about showing him support, but Blaine had just figured that his mother was the only one that was actually trying to change… Maybe he should start listening to his mother more.

“I know nothing has changed for you, but this is a big change for me and your mother. We are both just working to adjust, okay?”

Blaine continued to stare, in astonishment, for a few silent moments, before he felt himself standing and crossing the space between them to hug his dad.

He could feel his father’s arms around him, returning the hug, and Blaine felt worry and anxiety pouring out of his body with the embrace.

“Thank you…” was all he could say.

His father nodded, and Blaine sat back in his chair.

“We do still have to talk about what happened today though.”

And just like that, the worry was back. Not because he was afraid of getting in trouble, he knew they hadn’t done anything wrong, and he now knew his father was on his side, but because he still knew that people were upset. They were in a bad situation, and he could not help but worry about what the fallout over all of this would be. Secrets about the past were bound to come out sooner or later, and he was not looking forward to it.

“So, tell me about how you met Kurt. While I am fine with you dating him, I have to admit that you two look like an unlikely couple.”

Great. It was gonna be the conversation with Cooper all over again. He would be sure to leave out the word “gang” this time.

Blaine told his father about how he and Kurt had met and had gotten to know each other, and how they eventually started dating. His father then asked about what had happened with Karofsky earlier, and Blaine told him, but that let to questions about whether this was the first time something like this had happened. Blaine was honest, and told him about the fight that had taken place in the parking lot.

His father sighed. “Blaine… why didn’t you say anything? You could have told me or your mother.”

Blaine got nervous, he didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “I—I didn’t say anything because Kurt asked me not to.”

“What? Why not?”

“I… I had asked him about maybe telling his father or a teacher at school but—“

“Yes, that would have been the responsible thing to do,” his father cut him off. “If you had gone to an adult this might not have happened, we could have nipped it in the bud and—“

“Dad! You don’t think I know that? I didn’t want this to go any further either but Kurt asked me not to and he trusts me and I could not just go back on my word!”

Blaine was breathing a little heavy after he had yelled. He had never raised his voice at his father before, and it had made him feel a little uneasy. It wasn’t that he was mad at his father particularly, it was more that he was frustrated with this situation. Everybody else thought they knew how to the best handle the problem, but they were not the ones that were in the middle of it. He and Kurt were. He knew people were just trying to help, but how could they, when they didn’t know the whole story? And he couldn’t tell the whole story. He was stuck, and he didn’t know what to do.

But things had changed. More people had become involved because Karofsky had been caught in action. So things had changed, and the situation was not the same anymore. If things were going to change, and hopefully for the better, then something was going to have to give. Blaine just didn’t know what that something was going to be.

“I’m sorry,” Blaine said. “I didn’t meant to raise my voice. I am just upset.”

Blaine was staring at the ground, but when he felt his dad lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, he looked up at him.

“It’s okay, son. I don’t mean to pry, but I am just trying to figure out everything I can about what is going on so that I can maybe get the school to do something about it.”

Blaine doubted that would happen. Kurt had gone to teachers before, and nothing had happened. But… things had changed.

“What—Can I… Can I ask what you all talked about in the principal’s office?”

Blaine’s father sat back in his seat. “Of course.”

~*~*~

_Mr. Anderson stormed into Principal Figgins’ office after he had glanced at Blaine and his boyfriend to make sure they didn’t look took too bad. But he only spared a glance because he could not wait much longer to go into the office. He was livid._

_He had gotten a call from the school when he had been on his way home from work early, and they had told him that Blaine had “gotten into an altercation with another student”. He had to turn around and go to the school. Mr. Anderson knew his son. He was not the type to get into fights, he had always been a polite well-behaved young man. There had to be some other explanation._

_And then it hit him._

_Bullying._

_He really hoped that was not the case, the guilt might eat him alive, but the more he thought about it as he drove, the more likely the situation seemed. By the time he arrived at the school he was furious. At the school, at the world, at himself._

_If he had not insisted that Blaine transfer to this school this might never have happened. But he would worry about that later._

_When Mr. Anderson walked into the office and saw Blaine and his boyfriend sitting together, his suspicions were all but cemented in his head._

_He stormed into the office and could keep his anger in any longer._

_“What the hell is going on here!?” He yelled as he entered the office._

_“Ah, Mr. Anderson. Thank you for coming. Would you like a seat?” Principal Figgins motioned to a chair nearby._

_“I’d like to stand thank you.” His polite words had no kindness behind them. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now._

_“Very well. We had to call you in today, sir, because one of our staff members caught your son and one of his friends having an altercation with Mr. David Karofsky here.” Figgins motioned to the other boy sitting in the office, who at least had the decency to look somewhat sheepish._

_Mr. Anderson turned back to Figgins, “I doubt that is actually what happened. My son does not get into fights.”_

_“Well, Mr. Anderson, it seems to be your son’s word against David’s, and so he have no way to settle this.”_

_“Are you kidding me?! What about the fact that he was there too?” Mr. Anderson said, pointing out at the boy sitting next to his son._

_“Mr. Hummel has not proven himself to be a very reliable source, given his past track record of skipping classes and consistently being in detention, along with your son,” Figgins replied._

_Mr. Anderson chose to ignore those last few remarks for the time being. He had more important matters to attend to. “What about the teacher who saw everything?”_

_“He has been dismissed for the day, and what he saw can be matched up by both David’s and your son’s stories.” Figgins replied calmly._

_Mr. Anderson had to take a deep breath before he spoke again. “So, you are telling me,” he continued, trying to keep his composure, “that even though you have three witnesses that testify that this boy,” he said motioning to David, “was harassing those two boys out there,” he motioned to the two outside, “that you are discounting all of their accounts because one skips classes, and the other two can be discounted because of whatever tales this other boy makes up?” he had spoken slowly as if he had been taking to a small child._

_“That is right Mr. Anderson.”_

_“THAT IS UTTER NONSENSE AND THIS IS A COMPLETE ABOMINATION!”_

_Mr. Anderson had not noticed the door opening behind him in the middle of his tirade, but then there was another man standing next to him._

_Figgins turned to the new man as if Mr. Anderson had not just been yelling at him._

_“Ah, Congressman Hummel. Thank you for coming in.”_

_Mr. Anderson turned to him and stuck out his hand. “Hello, sir. I am Johnathan Anderson, Blaine’s father. It seems that our sons are dating,” he said briskly. He had no ill will against Mr. Hummel, but the situation under which they were meeting was not ideal._

_Mr. Hummel shook his hand and chuckled. “It would appear so. It is nice to meet you.”_

_He turned back to Figgins once the introductions had ended._

_“So, what happened here?” Mr. Hummel asked, far calmer than Mr. Anderson was._

_Figgins explained everything again including both sides of the story, and after Mr. Anderson heard David’s side of the story again it seemed even more ridiculous than it had the first time._

_“And so you see, Mr. Hummel, we are at a stand-still here. It is one story against another.”_

_“Aw, come on now, Figgins. You, and I, and everyone else in this room know that, that is not the case here.” Mr. Hummel said after the recount had been finished._

_“Yes, I am afraid it is, and as such there is nothing I can do.”_

_“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.” Mr. Anderson could not hold his tongue anymore. “You are not going to do anything about this?! You are just going to let him off scot-free so that he can just do the same thing all over again?”_

_“He is right Figgins,” Mr. Hummmel added. “If you let this go you know you will get in a whole heap of trouble. You have three witnesses and something like this cannot be pushed under the rug. Who knows how long this has been going on before they got caught?”_

_The more people talked, the further David sunk into his seat._

_“Well what do you suppose we do?” Figgins asked, obviously becoming frustrated himself with not being able to control the situation._

_“He needs to be expelled.” Mr. Anderson said without hesitation._

_“Now, Mr. Anderson—“_

_“No! This sort of thing should not be taken lightly, and if you will not take care of it, then I will go to the school board. My son should not have to fear going to school because he might be bullied!”_

_Mr. Hummel nodded in agreement next to him._

_“I am sorry gentlemen. My hands are tied here.”_

_Mr. Anderson stood there for a few moments staring at Figgins unwaveringly. When it didn’t look like Figgins was about to change his mind, Mr. Anderson turned on his heal and strode toward the exit. He opened the door to exit, and standing in the doorway he turned back for one final comment: “This is completely ridiculous, and I will_ not _stand for it.”_

_And with that, he slammed the door behind him._

~*~*~

Blaine sat in silence while he listened to the story, and now that it was over, he didn’t know what to say.

But he didn't have to.

"Look, Blaine, I meant what I said, if I have to go to the school board to make sure that school is safe for you again, then I will."

Blaine waited a bit to let all of this new information sink in.

"Dad I... It means so much to me that you fought for me like that, but I don't think getting David Karofsky expelled is going to make the school all better. Yes, it may help, but things are always going to be like this. There is always going to be prejudice in the world. Even if Karofsky left, there will probably be others that are just like him. It just seems like a lot of hassle for not much reward."

Blaine's father shook his head, "You are not a hassle Blaine."

Blaine dipped his head, "You know what I mean."

His father was quiet for another few moments.

"I understand that this will not fix everything, but Blaine, this cannot be ignored. This kid attacked you guys. That kind of behavior cannot, and should not slide."

Blaine's eyes were trained on the grain of the table. "Right..."

"Listen, Blaine, I think that... I will have to discuss it with your mother, but I think maybe you should transfer back to Dalton."

Blaine's head snapped up quickly and he was already shaking his head no. He couldn't leave McKinley. Kurt was at McKinley.

"Now, don't say no right away, Blaine. Hear me out. It is our job as your parents to make sure you are safe, whether that means going to the school board to make sure that kid can never hurt you again, or whether it means moving you to a place that we know is safe. The choice between the two is yours, but we cannot just sit back and pretend this never happened."

Blaine was speechless. He could not think of anything to say because he felt completely stuck. Like someone has pushed the ‘pause’ button on his ability to think through things rationally, and he just couldn't manage to press ‘play’.

His father sighed, "I know you might not like this, but just take some time to think about it, okay?"

Blaine could only nod.

"Okay, well... why don't you go to your room for a bit. I will have to tell your mother about all of this and I doubt you want her fussing over you the whole time, right?"

Blaine chuckled a bit as he stood, but it was halfhearted. Everything he seemed to know had been turned on its head within a matter of hours, and he felt a bit disoriented. He just didn't know what to do about anything anymore. But there was one thing that he was still certain about.

Kurt.

He called him once he got to his room, but Kurt didn't pick up.

Maybe he is having his own conversation with his father, Blaine thought. But all Blaine wanted to do was talk to him. Even just to hear his voice—

 _Call me when you can._ Blaine texted, instead of calling again like he actually wanted to.

He laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling for hours. Even when he heard his mother come home, and he could hear the muffled voices of his parents downstairs talking, he didn't move. Too many thoughts were running through his head.

Should he go back to Dalton? He couldn't. Kurt was at McKinley.

But what about Karofsky? They could face him together.

But what if they couldn't? What might Karofsky do next time?

He really wanted to talk to Kurt.

What felt like minutes, but was probably hours later, his mother gently knocked on his door before coming in. She sat on the edge of his bed next to where he was laying.

"Are you okay, honey?" She asked, brushing his hair back.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"I've made some dinner."

"I don't think I am really hungry."

"Sweetie, are you sure you are okay?" She was looking at him with a worried expression.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's been a long day, I think I am just tired. I'll probably just go to bed."

His mom paused for a few moments before she spoke. "Blaine, we want you to know that whatever you decide to do, we will support you, and do our best to make sure that everything is okay for you."

Blaine sat up to hug her. "Yes, I understand that now. Thank you."

They pulled back from the hug, and she stroked his cheek. "We love you very much, don't forget that, Blaine."

He nodded. "I love you both, too."

She brushed his hair back one more time. "Get some sleep, I'll leave you some leftovers in the refrigerator if you get hungry. See you in the morning."

After she left the room Blaine continued to stare at the ceiling, unable to come up with any answers to the questions running through his head, until he couldn't keep his eyes open any more, and fell asleep.

~*~*~

He was awoken by the sound of his phone ringing on his bedside table. It was dark outside, but he felt suddenly very awake as Kurt's name flashed on his phone.

"Kurt?" he answered by way of greeting.

"Hey." he heard on the other end of the line, and he couldn't help but let out a relived sigh, unaware of just how relived he would feel just with that one word.

"Hey," he replied.

There was a few moments of comfortable silence before everything that happened a few hours ago caught up to him.

"Kurt, I don't know what to do. Things are already changing so fast and I'm not sure how to handle them or what decisions to make and I just don't--"

"You should open your window." Kurt interrupted his rambling.

"I... what?"

He heard Kurt chuckle on the other end of the line, "Walk across your room, unlock your window, and open it." Kurt's tone was teasing but insistent.

Instead of replying, Blaine did what Kurt asked him to do. When he opened his window and looked down, Kurt was standing there, phone pressed to his ear. He waved at Blaine.

Blaine could only stick out his hand and copy the action.

"Can I come up?" Kurt asked, almost shyly.

That spurned Blaine into action. "Yes! Yeah, of course, just um... just go to the front, I'll be down in a moment."

He closed his window and hung up the phone. He tiptoed as quietly as possible down the hallway and stairs to the front door, grateful that his parents were already asleep.

He unlocked and opened the front door as quietly as he could, and there Kurt was, leaning patiently against the side of the porch, waiting.

Blaine smiled, and took his hand without a word, and led him inside, closing the door silently. He led him upstairs, and it was only after they were safely inside Blaine's room that either of them made a sound.

"Hey," Blaine said as he turned to him.

Kurt chuckled. "Hey, again," He stepped closer and reached up to tuck a curl behind Blaine's ear, and Blaine leaned into the touch.

"What are you doing here?"

Kurt shrugged. "I wanted to see you."

Blaine grinned. He couldn't help it when he was around Kurt.

"I think you are a bad influence on me, Kurt Hummel. Encouraging me to sneak strange men into my house in the dead of night."

Kurt wound his arms around Blaine's waist and quirked an eyebrow, "Are you complaining?"

Blaine dropped his arms over Kurt's shoulders and shook his head, "Not at all."

Kurt kissed him them, slow and caressing, and Blaine would have been content to do nothing else for the rest of his life except kiss Kurt. He tightened his arms around Kurt's shoulders, trying to keep him close, and kissed him back, trying to pour all of his emotions into it. He loved Kurt so much, and no matter what happened next, he knew that he would find a way to stay with him.

~*~*~

They moved to the bed, and Kurt wrapped himself around Blaine’s back and Blaine held tightly to the hand that was resting against his front. Their breathing was slow and easy. All they wanted to do was be close to each other.

“I love you, Kurt.”

“I love you too, Blaine.”

Blaine held tighter to Kurt’s hand.

Kurt sighed and drew him in closer. “Everything is going to be alright.”

“How do you know that?”

There was a pause while Kurt stroked his thumb over Blaine’s hand.

After a while, he answered, “Because we will make it okay.”

 


	14. Chapter 14

When Blaine woke up the next morning, Kurt wasn’t there anymore. For a brief moment, Blaine wondered if he had imagined Kurt coming to his house last night, as his subconscious’ way to try and comfort him after the events of the previous day, but then he rolled over and saw a small scrap of paper lying on his nightstand.

_I Love You_ it read, with a small heart scribbled next to the words. Blaine smiled as he traced over Kurt’s writing.

He got up and got ready for school, with the paper tucked safely in his pocket. It gave him a strange sense of comfort whenever he could reach in his pocket and feel it sitting there.

He was walking through the kitchen to get to the garage when his father stopped him. Blaine hadn’t even noticed him sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper, he was so caught up in his own head.

“I don’t want to put any pressure on you, Blaine, but have you given any more thought to what we talked about last night?”

In truth, he hadn’t. If he had, he might have actually talked to Kurt about it last night, sought out his advice. But the choice was obvious right? He _couldn’t_ leave McKinley. He just couldn’t bring himself to leave after he had formed such strong connections there. Not just Kurt, but also everyone else in that group of rag-tag detention goers that had become his friends.

But still…

“No, I haven’t made a decision yet. Sorry,”

“That’s okay,” his father replied. “We just need to make a decision sooner rather than later, because if you do choose to stay at McKinley then we are going to want to take our case to the school board as soon as possible.”

Blaine nodded. He really didn’t like the idea of getting the school board involved with all of this, but he doubted that he would be able to convince his parents, or Mr. Hummel for that matter, of changing their minds.

“I’ll let you know soon.” Blaine assured his father.

He wanted to talk to Kurt about it. Not so that Kurt could make the decision for him, but just so Blaine could have someone to talk it out with. Someone who he could discuss the pros and the cons with, and Kurt seemed to know him better than anyone at the moment, and so he just wanted to be able to talk to him. To let him know what was going on and to come to the best decision possible.

~*~*~

When Blaine arrived at school, Mercedes and Artie were waiting at his locker.

“OH MY GOD, BLAINE.” Mercedes exclaimed grasping both of his shoulders.

“Dude, give us the deets!” Artie added to her harassment.

“What? What are you talking about?” Blaine looked back and forth between the two of them.

“We heard that you and Kurt got into another fight with Karofsky yesterday and that Kurt almost _died_ , and that Congressman Hummel was here and that the school is going to be shut down!” Artie reported.

Blain blinked at them in confusion.

“Are you serious? That’s absolutely not true!” Blaine brushed Mercedes off of him.

“None of it?” Mercedes asked, looking slightly disappointed that there wasn’t any juicy gossip to be had.

“Well… I mean, Kurt and I did get into a fight with Karofsky, but Mr. Johnson showed up and ended it really quickly. And yeah, Kurt’s dad showed up, but that’s because the principal called all three of our parents. And no, the school isn’t going to be shut down. At least, I really doubt it is.” If Figgins’ attitude yesterday was any indication, such drastic measures wouldn’t be taken.

“Hmph.” Mercedes huffed, crossing her arms. “Well still, I can’t believe that Karofsky attacked y’all again. Did he get in enough trouble to get him to leave y’all alone at least?”

“Well, not really. Figgins said that the whole thing was his word against ours, even though Johnson saw the end of it, so he couldn’t really do anything about it. My parents want to go to the school board about it though.” He opened his locker and fidgeted with his things as he said this. He didn’t like talking about it that much, he didn’t want to bring more attention to what was going on. He started to understand how Kurt felt like about all of this. He just wanted it all handled quickly and quietly.

Mercedes patted his shoulder. “Well, we’re glad you are both okay. Let us know if we can do anything, okay?”

Blaine smiled and nodded, and waved as they went off to their classes.

~*~*~

Blaine had been looking for Kurt all day. He had skipped his first class that they shared together, but that wasn’t uncommon since Kurt tended to arrive to school late anyway, but by lunch when he hadn’t even caught a glimpse of him around the halls, he decided to go out to the bleachers to see if he was hiding out there.

But he wasn’t. He wasn’t in the detention room either. He finally checked the parking lot, and Kurt’s motorcycle wasn’t there either. He must have skipped that day, which confused Blaine. 

Since they had gotten together, Kurt hadn’t skipped a single day, even if he didn’t come to all of his classes, he was still there to see Blaine in the hallways, during lunch, and during detention. Kurt hadn’t seemed sick last night, so Blaine doubted that was the reason he was absent, and even if he was sick, he would have texted Blaine, right?

The whole thing was puzzling, but unable to come up with another solution, Blaine convinced himself that Kurt had gotten sick somehow and couldn’t come to school.

It wasn’t until later that afternoon that he would find out the truth.

He reported to detention, just like he always did, but when he arrived, he noticed the others giving him weird looks. Even Mike and Tina were watching him with sad looks, almost as if they pitied him. At first he assumed it was because of the rumors about what had happened between him, Kurt and Karofsky, but then he saw that Mercedes and Artie were giving him the same look, and they knew the truth about what had happened.

Blaine started to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Puck walked up to him then. “Dude, I’m sorry, man,” he said, clapping him on the shoulder.

Blaine shook his head, “About yesterday? It wasn’t as bad as everyone is saying.”

Puck looked at him blankly, “No, about Kurt leaving. Man, that really sucks.”

A cold sensation ran down Blaine’s spine. What? Kurt leaving? What was he talking about?

“What are you talking about?” he managed to get out.

Puck was looking at him with his own confused expression. “You don’t…” he looked back over his shoulder. “Quinn said that…”

Quinn was sitting across the room in her usual seat, pointedly not looking toward the two of them. Blaine didn’t like the feeling that was spreading through him. Something had happened—something with Kurt – and he had no idea about it. He needed answers. He was starting to panic. He stood abruptly from his chair, which caused it to scrape back with a loud noise, making a few others in the room jump.

He strode across the room in a few steps until he was standing in front of Quinn. She ignored him, still not looking toward him.

“Quinn…”

“What?” she snapped, as if his presence was a personal offense to her.

“Quinn, please. What’s going on? Puck said Kurt left? Left to go where?” His confusion was becoming replaced with worry and fear. Tears started to form behind his eyes.

She glanced up at him, and as soon as she made eye contact he deflated a little. She sighed, “Blaine… I really shouldn’t be the one to tell you…”

Blaine fell to this knees in front of her so that he wasn’t standing over her anymore. Also, he just couldn’t keep himself on his feet anymore. He was beginning to feel dizzy with the emotions and unanswered questions running through his head, his heart was beating a mile a minute, and it was becoming all too much.

“Quinn… please…” all he wanted was answers.

She looked at him for a few silent moments before she sighed again.

“Kurt came into the school this morning to sign transfer papers. He… he and his father left on a plane around one. They moved to Washington.”

Suddenly the scrap of paper in his pocket didn’t feel like a comfort anymore. It felt like a goodbye note.

“He… he’s gone?” Blaine asked.

Quinn didn’t say anything. That was enough of an answer for Blaine to know it was true. He looked around the room at the rest of the group, trying to find any clue that this was all a lie. What he saw instead was everyone looking at him with looks of sadness and pity. This wasn’t some elaborate cruel joke. Kurt had left, without telling him, without saying goodbye, and _everyone knew_.

Mr. Johnson walked into the room then.

“Mr. Anderson, if you would please, find a seat that is not on the floor.”

The words seemed fuzzy in the back of his mind, although his body responded and he stood to walk dazedly to a nearby chair. The only words that were rattling around in his head were Quinn’s.

_Kurt signed transfer papers… Left on a plane… Moved to Washington._

_Left to move to Washington._

_Kurt left._

He didn’t hear Mr. Johnson’s usual monologue about turning their lives around before he left the room. He was staring into space, trying to figure out what was going on.

Was Kurt breaking up with him again and just didn’t want to say it to his face?

Did he not want to deal with the whole Karofsky situation anymore?

Did he… did he not love Blaine anymore?

He had been sitting there a few minutes with the others throwing worried glances at him before he was once again abruptly out of his chair and running from the room.

He heard someone yelling after him, but he paid no mind to them as he ran across the hall to the bathroom. He locked the door behind himself and slid to the floor, fishing his phone out of his pocket with a shaky hand.

He almost didn’t fully register that he was calling Kurt until he heard his voice on the other side of the line.

“Hey Blaine!” he greeted cheerfully.

Blaine was still trying to comprehend how his idea of Kurt could, within a matter of seconds, go from being someone who was nearby who he could go to at any time, to suddenly being someone that was hundreds of miles away and completely out of his reach.

“I—I… Kurt, I… wh—what… I don’t—“ he was panicking, but he couldn’t gather his thoughts enough through all of the emotions running around his head.

“Blaine?” Kurt sounded worried, “Baby, what’s wrong?”

His question snapped Blaine out of his daze quickly, and suddenly, of all of the emotions swirling around his head, his anger was the one that made itself most prominent at that moment.

“What’s wrong?!” he practically yelled. “I just found out that you have moved to fucking _Washington DC_ , and you didn’t even bother to tell me? Or to say goodbye? What the hell Kurt? I thought… I thought… “

He heard Kurt sigh almost angrily on the other end of the line, “Who told you?” he asked.

“Who…? That doesn’t fucking matter, Kurt! What matters is that _you_ didn’t tell me! I shouldn’t have had to hear it from someone else in the first place! I thought… I thought that I meant more to you than that…” Blaine’s anger was slowly running out and was being replaced by feelings of confusion, and heartbreak.

“You do Blaine! Of course you do! Please, I—“

“I don’t understand what is going on. Why would you… Why would you just _leave_ like that? Without telling me, and you are just… You’re just _gone_ …”

He was close to sobbing now, trying to catch his breath in between his words. He knew he should be keeping up his angry resolve as he was confronting Kurt, but his brain just wouldn’t _shut up_ , and it was telling him that Kurt had left him forever, and that Kurt didn’t even love him enough to say anything about it, and he was losing Kurt _again_.

“Blaine, please… Please, I promise you I can explain all of this, I swear, but I need you to calm down, please. You are scaring me and I can’t be there to make sure you are okay. Please, just breathe. Please…” Kurt was trying to be comforting with his words, instructing Blaine to take deep breaths in and out, and as much as Blaine wanted to still be mad at him, his need to calm down was greater, so he listened to Kurt’s soothing voice.

A few minutes later his breathing was returning to a regular state, although it was still interspersed with a few sniffles as Blaine couldn’t seem to completely stop his tears.

“Blaine, please let me explain.” Kurt sounded concerned, as if he was worried that Blaine wasn’t going to give him the chance to do so.

Blaine nodded, because he couldn’t bring himself to form words, even though he knew Kurt couldn’t see him.

Kurt must have taken his silence as permission, because he started to speak a few moments later.

“When I came to your house last night, I had no idea this was going to happen. I didn’t find out until this morning when I went home.”

~*~*~

_Kurt walked in the front door, intending to go change his clothes for school and then leave shorty after. However, when he walked past the living room, his dad was there._

_“Kurt.” He stopped him before he could go upstairs. “Come in here for a sec.”_

_Kurt got an uneasy feeling from the serious look on his father’s face. He moved to the living room and took a seat on the couch._

_“Kurt, I need you to pack a suitcase. We have a flight to Washington at one this afternoon.”_

_“What? Why am I going?” Kurt didn’t usually go with his dad when he went to Washington. He’d been a few times, but it had been a while since he had gone._

_“Kurt I’m… I’m selling this house. You’re gonna move to Washington with me.”_

_Kurt was silent for a minute as he processed what his father had just said. He couldn’t move. He just couldn’t. Was this because…?_

_“I’m sorry that I got into that fight yesterday, but I was trying to—“_

_“This has nothing to do with that,” his father waved his hands. “Well, I guess it partially does, but I had been thinking about this move before all of that happened. My work in Washington is becoming more and more of a full-time commitment and requires me to be there more and more. And I don’t feel right, as a parent, leaving you here all the time by yourself. This only partially has to do with yesterday because it just helped me realize that I don’t really know what is going on in your life. You aren’t telling me anything, and I should have known about something this serious. If I had been here, I maybe would have been able to see what was happening to you. Also, I don’t think I want you in that school if students like that Karofsky kid are going to get away with behavior like that.”_

_“But I can’t!” Kurt said leaping from his seat. “I only have one more year left before college, can’t I just finish the year here?”_

_“Kurt, didn’t you just hear what I said? I do not feel comfortable with you being here all by yourself and I can’t be here as much as I need to be.”_

_Kurt sunk back down to the couch. “But… Blaine.”_

_His father sighed, “Look… that was one of the reasons why I was hesitating on this. I know you have friends here, and you now have a boyfriend, but I, as your parent, have to do what I think is best for you. I promise that you can still visit often. But this is my final decision.”_

~*~*~

“He didn’t want to discuss it any further, and he wouldn’t budge. I didn’t tell you right away because I thought that I could come up with another solution and that I could convince him to let me stay. I figured that I would be gone a few days at most, that I could fix all of this, and that I would be back soon enough. I guess it was a bit naive of me to think that I could do such a big thing without anyone noticing, huh?

They were quiet as the explanation hung between them, Blaine trying to process it all.

“Blaine, I’m _so_ sorry that I didn’t tell you what was going on. I honestly thought that I could fix everything and that I wouldn’t have to needlessly worry you.”

“Kurt, I just… I had to hear it from _Quinn_.”

“I know, I know… I’m sorry, I promise, that won’t happen again. I will tell you everything from now on. Promise.”

“…Okay.”

They were both quiet again.

“So… what now?” Blaine tenetavily asked to break the silence.

“So now I try to convince my dad to let me move back to Ohio until college.”

“Okay.”

More silence.

“Blaine, I promise, I am going to do everything I can to fix this.”

“I know you will. I know…I get it now…”

Blaine had a weird feeling settling over him. Like he had been cut loose and was now just floating, directionless, pointless.

“Listen, I have to go. God, I really don’t want to, not like this, but I…” Kurt said, voice full of regret.

“Yeah, no, I get it. I’ll, um… I’ll talk to you later?”

“Of course.” He paused. “Blaine?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you. So much. I hope you know that…”

Blaine didn’t realize that he had been waiting for those words their whole conversation until he heard them. Those words in themselves were like their own promise. That everything was going to be okay. That _they_ were going to be okay. Kurt still loved him.

“I—I love you, too.”

“I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

~*~*~

When he got back to the choir room he sat back in his original seat, staring at the tabletop, trying to sort through his thoughts.

Kurt was in Washington, but he was trying to come back. That was good. But really, it didn’t sound like there was going to be much negotiating with Kurt’s father. Blaine wished there was something he could do to help, but how could he? He was still stuck here. In Lima.

What was he supposed to do now? Since the first day of school, when Blaine had seen Kurt leaning up against the lockers in the hallway, his thoughts were almost consistently on him. Trying to figure him out, trying to convince him that he could trust him, figuring out that he was in love with him, dealing with those feelings. Blaine’s world had pretty much been revolving around Kurt during his time here at McKinley. And it sounded silly for Blaine to admit this, because it seemed foolish to let himself be so dependent on one person, and after only a few short months.

But he couldn’t help it. Blaine was slowly coming to realize that when he falls in love with someone – with Kurt – that he inhabits his entire being, occupying his every thought. And he didn’t regret it one bit.

He had no reason to regret it in the first place. He and Kurt hadn’t broken up, they were just going to be apart for a little while. Long distance.

Blaine could do long distance.

Right?

Of course he could. He didn’t need constant reassurance that they were still together and still in love. He had to trust Kurt. That’s what relationships are about. Trust. He had to trust Kurt.

Even though he had just lied to him.

No. He can’t start doubting now. Kurt explained his reasons, and Blaine gets it. He cannot start this off by doubting Kurt. He loves Kurt. And Kurt loves him. He just has to remember that, and he can make it through this. For… however long.

Suddenly, Blaine was jolted out of his thoughts by Quinn sitting down beside him rather abruptly, and jostling the table as she did so. Blane couldn’t help but look at her in confusion. Why was she here? She never sat anywhere else besides the table where she and Kurt sat.

She held the box of cigarettes to him, as and offering.

“Oh. Uh, no thank you,” Blaine said, even more confused. She just shrugged and put her feet up on the table, and stared off into space, to mind her own business, like she normally did.

Was she trying to comfort him? She had an odd way to go about it, but he supposed that it was the thought that counted. In fact, he was touched, and the fact that she put forth the effort actually did comfort him a little bit.

Artie and Mercedes came over then. “Yo, Blaine,” Artie said, as he would in any other regular conversation, “Mercedes and I are having a discussion about a new album that just got dropped, and I think she is vastly overlooking the trail blazing that it is going to do.”

Mercedes rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You are just saying that because you think any song that has a new technique in it is going to revolutionize the music industry.”

“I still think you are underestimating it. You see…”

He could see what they were doing. They were trying to distract him. And he was grateful for that. He needed a good distraction. His thoughts had started to run away with him, and as much as he could keep his mind off things, the better.

Puck came over too, giving a light punch to Blaine’s shoulder that was probably also supposed to be comforting. He sat next to him, on his side not currently occupied by Quinn, and joined in on Mercedes and Artie’s debate, mostly just getting them more riled up and heated in their discussion.

Blaine realized that Kurt was not the only person that had impacted his time here at McKinley. The people around him—the _friends_ around him, here in the detention room, were there for him when he really needed them. He hadn’t realized how lucky he was in meeting this rag-tag group of misfits until that exact moment. Despite what had just happened, he couldn’t help but smile.

~*~*~

When Blaine walked into his house later that day in a bit of a daze, the events of the day and all of the new information buzzing about in his head.

“Hey, Blaine.”

He almost jumped two feet in the air, he didn’t notice his father sitting in the living room.

“Oh, sorry. Hey.” He replied, trying to calm his frayed nerves. He didn’t really know why he was so jumpy.

“How was school?” His father asked then.

“It was…” he didn’t really know how to answer that question. He didn’t really want to re-tell the whole story with Kurt, but he also didn’t think he could just reply with a, _it was fine_.

“It was complicated.” A lame response, but it was the best he could come up with in his current state.

His dad suddenly looked worried. “Did something else happen with Karofsky?”

“No, no. Nothing to do with him…” that reminded him about the whole conversation he and his father had yesterday, and suddenly, his decision seemed so clear.

“Actually though, I have made up my mind about the whole transferring thing,” he said, re-meeting his father’s eyes.

“Oh? And what have you decided?”

Blaine thought about all of his friends that had comforted him today and distracted him today, when he needed them most, and he hadn’t even known that he needed them. Kurt wasn’t at McKinley anymore, but that still didn’t make him want to transfer back to Dalton. He still missed what he had had there before, but there is no way he could go back now. Not now that he has felt his new group of friends at McKinley that seem to know him better than he thought they did.

“I want to stay at McKinley.” He said with as much conviction as he could gather, in order to convince his father that he was confident in his decision.

His father nodded in acceptance. “Alright. That is fine, but if that is the case, your mother and I want to do something about Karofsky. We are not comfortable with him getting away with what he did.”

“I understand that. Um… Dad, I’m kindof tired. Can I…?” he pointed in the direction of his bedroom.

“Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Sorry, didn’t mean to ambush you right as you got home.”

Blaine smiled. “You didn’t. Thanks.” He turned to leave the room, but then his father called out to him once more.

“Blaine, if you ever need to talk about anything, your mother and I are always available to listen. Okay?”

Blaine nodded and smiled again, “Okay. Thanks.” Blaine was so grateful that their relationship was improving.

His father nodded again before going back to his book, and Blaine went to his room to collapse on his bed as his energy drained out of him.

~*~*~

When he next woke up it was dark outside. He glanced at his clock which told him that it was a little after ten thirty. He looked over to his desk and noticed a sandwich and a bottle of water sitting there. Blaine smiled. His mother was amazing.

After he retrieved his sandwich and returned to his bed, he checked his phone and saw that he had a text from Kurt.

_I’m free now if you want to talk._

Blaine immediately went to his address book and hit call. Kurt picked up after the first ring.

“Hey, Babe.” Blaine could tell he was smiling, but he could also tell that he was a little hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure about his words.

“Hi. God, I already miss you, and it’s only been a day since I’ve seen you?”

Kurt laughed nervously on the other end of the line.

“What’s wrong?”

He could hear Kurt sigh and pause, trying to gather his thoughts. “I guess I’m just worried that you are mad at me. Which, I would completely understand because you have every reason in the world to be exactly that, and I’m such an idiot for starting this whole thing off by lying to you, and I don’t even know what I was thinking by doing that. What in the world made me think that was a good idea? That was the worst possible way to go about it and what was I even—“

“Kurt, hey, hey, stop, listen to me.” He had to cut of Kurt’s downward spiral of thinking. Kurt was silent on the other end of the line, waiting.

“Look, I was mad earlier. I was confused and didn’t know what was going on. But I know now, and while I might not like the situation, but I’m not mad at you for it. I get that you are trying to change it.”

Kurt sighed again, a mix of relief and frustration. “Yeah, yeah I am…”

Blaine could guess what the frustration part of it was about. “So… how’s that going?”

“I really wish I could give you good news, but so far no luck. But I’m not done yet. I’m not giving up yet.” Kurt sounded resolute in his goal of getting back to Lima. Blaine was glad that he was confident that he could still change his dad’s mind. However, there was the other end of the possibility, that he wouldn’t come up with a way to change his dad’s mind and he would stay in DC.

“Should we talk about the other side of this though?” Blaine asked.

“The other side?” Kurt sounded confused.

“That if you can’t convince him, and you have to stay in DC, do we want to have a… a long distance relationship?”

“Oh.” Kurt sounded like the idea was just now clicking with him. “Yes, yes of course. I still want to be with you, even if I can’t live in Lima. Unless… unless you don’t want to do long distance.”

“No!” Blaine was quick to stop that train of thought. “I mean, yes. I mean, I would want to do the long distance thing. I want to be with you, no matter what.”

He heard Kurt breathe a sigh of relief. “Okay, good. God, I think we both keep thinking that any second now one of us is going to break up with the other,” he said, chuckling a little.

Blaine laughed too. “We should really stop that, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kurt agreed.

“We have to trust each other.” Blaine continued.

“Yes.”

“We have to stop expecting the worst to happen.”

“Yes.”

“We… we just have to remember that we love each other.”

“Yes, of course. Absolutely. I love you so much, Blaine.”

“I love you too, Kurt. This situation is a little unexpected, but we can make it through it.”

“Yeah. Yeah, we can.”

~*~*~

The next few days passed very slowly. The only time that Blaine was able to distract himself from thinking about Kurt was when he was hanging out in detention with everyone. Otherwise, he was thinking about him. Or texting him. They would text throughout the day, and call each other at night. They tried to stay in as much contact as they could. But it was still hard.

Blaine missed him. Kurt was gone so suddenly that he had not had time to prepare for the long distance of their relationship, and he consistently felt like he was missing something. A part of himself. He tried to snap himself out of his love-sickness, because he really didn’t want to be moping about all day, but it was hard to find things to do that could distract him enough to keep his mind from wandering.

But he would try. Because he and Kurt were going to make this work.

That night when he called Kurt he didn’t sound very enthusiastic when he answered the phone.

“Hi.”

“…Hey? What’s wrong?” Blaine hated this. Whenever Kurt was still here, he could at least see him and maybe read his mood better. Over the phone he had to rely on sighs and the sound of his voice.

“Blaine… I can’t do it. My dad is as stubborn as a mule. I’ve run out of ideas, and he just won’t listen to anything I have to say and I just… can’t. I can’t move back to Lima.” He sounded so defeated.

“Oh…” Blaine didn’t really know how to handle this. Neither of them wanted this, there wasn’t really a bright side or a silver lining to look for.

“Well… We both knew this was a possibility. We just know that it is for sure now. It’s okay, Kurt. We’ll make it through.”

Kurt let out a short huff of a laugh, but it sounded more like a disbelieving scoff. “Yeah. I hate this though. I miss you so much and I just wish I could do something, _anything_ , but I couldn’t…”

“I miss you too. And don’t think like that. This isn’t your fault. It’s nobody’s fault. You had to move because of your dad’s job. And him wanting to be responsible. Can’t really change that.”

Kurt did let out a small laugh at that. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The silence stretched between them, each listening to the other’s breathing on the other end of the line, just pretending, for the moment, that they were there together, lying side by side.

~*~*~

Blaine had made it a few weeks since then. He had settled into a state of apathy. He still certainly wasn’t as happy as he had been when Kurt had been there, but he wasn’t living in complete misery or fear of his relationship ending anymore. He went about his day, texting Kurt and talking with his friends when he could, but mostly just going about life like everything was normal. He couldn’t dwell.

Blaine was walking into school, just about to send Kurt his first message of the day when someone shoulder checked him from behind and caused him to drop his phone. He looked up and saw Karofsky sending him a scowl as he walked past him.

Blaine’s parents had contacted the school board with their case, and they already had a court date lined up in a few weeks. Karofsky had mostly been leaving him alone, save for these glares and occasional bumps that he would get.

Blaine ignored him, bending down to retrieve his dropped phone. However, the phone was unresponsive in his hands, refusing to turn on. _Great._ Now Blaine would have to go without talking to Kurt until he could get a replacement. Perfect.

~*~*~

Blaine walked into detention that afternoon after an incredibly long and dull day. Mercedes approached him immediately.

“Blaine! Where the hell have you been?!” She yelled, which surprised him. What happened? He hadn’t done anything had he?

“W—what do you mean? Going to class?” he answered uncertainly.

“Where were you at lunch?”

“With Quinn and Puck?” he did that occasionally, since he had done it when Kurt was around. He liked hanging out with them too, and sometimes it was nice not to be in the overly crowded room with a bunch of his yelling classmates.

“And why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

What was with this interrogation? “It broke this morning. Why are you asking me all of these questions?” he moved to go sit at a table, but she stopped him and pulled him back in front of her.

“Because. Kurt. Is. In. Ohio.” She said looking him dead in the eye.

For some reason, that sentence did not compute to him. It made no sense. Kurt wasn’t in Ohio, he was in Washington.

“What are you talking about? Why would Kurt be in Ohio?”

“He and his dad came back for the day to finish packing up everything in their house before they sell it. Blaine. Kurt is here. He’s been trying to contact you all day, and when he hadn’t heard from you he started contacting me. Blaine, are you listening to me?”

He was staring off in space, he couldn’t believe it. Kurt had been here all day and he hadn’t even known it. He should have been with him. He should be with him now! Why the hell is he still standing here?

“I… I have to…”

“Go!” She yelled at him “Yes! Go, go go!” She turned him around by the shoulders and shoved him out of the class room.

Luckily he didn’t run into any teachers on the way out of the school that would try and stop him, and he let his legs carry him as fast as they could to his car. He didn’t really remember the drive to Kurt’s house, or if he even obeyed traffic laws, the only thing he was thinking the whole way was _Kurt, Kurt, Kurt_.

He pulled onto Kurt’s street, vibrating in his seat. He could see his house, and as he got closer, he saw him. He walked out of the house carrying a box to the moving truck parked in the drive way. There he was, in the flesh. Real, and alive, and _here_.

He quickly parked in front of the house in the street, and leapt out of the car. Kurt put the box in the truck, and when he turned to go back into the house, his eyes connected with his.

Neither of them said anything. They just ran to each other, and soon, they were grasping each other in a hug, in each other’s arms once again.


End file.
